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How to Best Save Money During Lockdown

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The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly changed many aspects of our daily lives. The way we work, interact with others, and go about our days have all been forced to modify for the safety of ourselves and others. One area in particular that has been greatly impacted is peoples’ personal finances. The US economy shrank by 5% during the first quarter of 2020, and many folks are either out of work or concerned about losing their jobs, putting them under significant financial stress.

Current economic conditions have made many eager to save money or generate an additional stream of income because of the crisis. The following ideas can be a starting point for those who are of this mindset.

  Things To Do

Build a New Side Business

Do you have a passion or hobby that can be turned into some side income? For example, if you know how to write well, there are numerous online businesses that will pay you for your written work. This may be a perfect time to start it up during which your regular career may be a bit slower.

Reduce Costs

What expenses can you trim? Cable TV? Extra movie channels? Ordering takeout? Keeping the AC at a fairly low temperature? These are a few of many things you may look at to pare back your expenditures.

Look for Better Savings Rates

Even though interest rates are abysmally low, it still makes sense to look for the highest interest rates for your savings. Bankrate offers a listing of the top-paying online savings accounts for savers.

  Actions to Avoid

On the other hand, some actions are better not done. Two things to avoid are:

Dip Too Much into Savings

You may be tempted to dip into your savings or emergency fund. Indeed, you may have to, but try to limit the drawdown. Hopefully, as mentioned above, by generating some amount of side income, you can limit the depletion of your savings.

Spend Money Without a Plan

Many folks spend according to a budget. In times like these, this is sage counsel. Avoid indiscriminate purchases. If you need help making a personal spending budget, check out some online resources here.

By following these suggestions, or at least some of them, you may find your financial situation remains stable or even improves during the pandemic.

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Retirement Tools for Soon-To-Be Retirees

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Retirement is a complex issue for many Americans. Numerous factors go into making the choice of when to retire. Some of which often include:

Age

Amount of Social Security one is eligible for

Savings

Health

Luckily, there are many online tools to help.

In addition to seeking out professional financial planning services, these tools are useful for those deciding on retirement options:

AARP:

Answering questions about things like savings and income allows AARP to show users the optimal time to retire.

Bankrate:

This tool uses variables such as annual savings and income amounts that users can change to see how their potential retirements may be influenced. It can help users put their financial habits and goals into perspective for themselves going forward. This will assist users in making the most beneficial choices when it comes to their retirement.

Medicare:

Having access to healthcare after retirement is an important consideration. This tool shows users what their eligibility status is and possible premium amounts. Users may find, for example, that it’s better for them to wait longer so that they may be eligible for the maximum amount of coverage later down the road.

NerdWallet:

Financial considerations are crucial in choosing when to retire. This tool is able to help users see objectively if they are able to retire in the manner they hope to. Having a firm grasp on their financial situation can help people understand the risks and rewards of retiring at certain stages of their lives.

Networthify:

This tool uses numerous factors to tell its users when they will be able to comfortably retire. Factors Networthify will take into account include things like annual income, annual savings, and one’s current expenses and financial obligations. Users can see where they may save money and possibly fast track their objectives.

SmartAsset:

SmartAsset takes users’ financial goals into account, assisting with retirement planning by looking at different variables and allowing them to see how near or far they are from their target.

Social Security Benefits Analysis:

Users can utilize this tool to show them in black and white what their benefits would be if they were to retire early or later on in life. With this information, they can decide whether or not it would be worth it to retire earlier, or wait a little bit longer to reap all possible benefits.

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The Value of Good Credit

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When it comes to getting a car loan or a mortgage, banks look at a person’s credit history before extending the needed funds. The FICO credit scores that banks tend to look into range from 300 to 850. The higher a person’s credit score, the more likely they are to get a loan. While the ability to get a loan is one reason to work on securing a good credit score, there are many others.

Flexibility

The ability to get a loan is huge in a crisis. If you have an emergency with no cash on hand, a loan can help you weather the storm. A high credit score will make it more likely that you’ll be able to access a loan when you need it. The inability to get a loan will limit the amount of financial flexibility you’ll have in a pinch.

Lower Rates

Interest rates are tied to the perceived risk a borrower represents. A lower credit score will generally lead to a higher interest rate. In turn, the higher rate will lead to a more expensive loan. Higher credit scores can greatly lower the cost of borrowing, and you’ll want to ensure that you have a high score.

Other Savings

Banks are not the only business that will look at a person’s credit score. Many landlords will pull a credit report to see if a person is likely to pay his rent every month. Additionally, car insurance companies and utility companies will sometimes pull a credit report. Those with higher scores are more likely to get lower premiums. They might also be able to score a lower security deposit. In both instances, having a good credit history will lead to savings. As Ben Franklin once said, a penny saved is a penny earned.

If you currently have a credit score that’s on the lower end of the scale, you’ll want to work to improve it. Promptly paying at least the minimum amount due is the single best way to bump up your credit score. Using a lower percentage of your revolving credit lines can also help. Additionally, maintaining multiple lines of credit can lead to a positive bump to your credit scores. Having a good credit record can really pay off. Therefore, you’ll want to do all you can to keep it as clean as possible.

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Why You Shouldn’t Withdraw From Your Retirement Savings During Lockdown

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Taking money out of your retirement account is very tempting when thinking short-term. Having some extra cash in your pocket would make life much easier during difficult financial times like those we are experiencing today. But, experts recommend not doing this unless you have absolutely no other choice.

Why Your Retirement Account Should Remain Untouched

While the CARES Act passed by Congress this past March removes many of the obstacles to withdrawing or borrowing from a retirement account, financial experts say there are several reasons why you should leave your money right where it is.

The value of most retirement plans is down due to COVID-19’s brutal hit to the stock market. If you withdraw money now, you’ll be locking in your losses. But if you can wait it out, you might not lose anything.

If you take money out now, you’ll have less for retirement, when you’ll really need it.

You’ll miss out on investment growth. You could lose $100,00 or more, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

You’ll have to pay taxes on your withdrawal. Although you’ll have three years to pay the tax, that’s still just one more expense to worry about when you have very little money, to begin with.

  Should You Loan Yourself Money?

A better option might be to borrow money from your retirement account.

But, Kelly Campbell, CEO of Campbell Wealth Management, warned on CBS News MoneyWatch, be prepared to repay it within a year.

The sooner you pay the money back, she told MoneyWatch, the more time it will have to grow as the stock market rebounds.

Alternatives To Dipping Into Your Retirement Account

Writing for The Motley Fool, Maurie Backman suggests leaving your retirement account alone and applying for a more affordable home equity loan, trying to negotiate reduced or deferred payments with your creditors or tracking down a side hustle that you can do online. Beware though. Depending on the field you’re in, some of those side hustles pay very little.

The one option to avoid, Backman says, is running up expensive credit card debt.

If you’re still thinking of withdrawing money from your 401(k), you’re not alone. In a May SimplyWise Retirement Confidence Index, one out of five people said they expect to tap into their retirement accounts now.

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3 Tips for Negotiating During a Crisis

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Clear communication and maintaining a calm demeanor are the two most essential skills a negotiator must demonstrate for successful crisis negotiation. Whether you are a landlord negotiating with a tenant or a medical professional trying to contain a global pandemic, as a negotiator, it is easy to tell whether your attempts are bearing fruit or not, but almost impossible to save a negotiation that is going south fast. It is, however, possible to learn to avoid, and even save, a deteriorating consultation with these three crucial tips.

Tip 1: Appreciate That Crisis Management is a Part of the Negotiation

Negotiation is essentially an attempt to influence the expectations as well as the reactions of a target audience. When negotiating a business deal, for instance, you try to control the thought processes of stakeholders or customers. This explains why crisis negotiators in movies often try to buy time first. In a life-threatening negotiation, the objective may be different, but the methods are pretty much the same. Begin by recognizing that managing the crisis is a small win in the negotiation. The moment you appreciate this, you will realize multiple options and crisis resolution opportunities opening up.

Tip 2: Assess and Reassess Crises at Every Turn

Good negotiators are dynamic: rather than having a single objective, they try to see the crisis from multiple points of view, including the persons with whom they are negotiating. This is critical because it helps them understand the crisis for what it is, as well as what the parties in the negotiation perceive it to be. However, as the negotiation progresses and the parties express themselves, the negotiator will reassess the situation and adapt the negotiation tactics and objectives based on the new standpoints.

Tip 3: Keep Feeding Them More Pies

FBI crisis negotiators are trained to practice minimal encounters, to ask open-ended questions, to reflect, and use emotional labeling to assess and reassess a negotiation situation. When talking, they have mastered the art of paraphrasing, using effective pauses, and summarizing what they have in a way that makes it easier for the negotiation parties to understand even under pressure. The acronym more pies come from combining these highly effective crisis negotiation strategies.

The next time you are negotiating a crisis, try implementing these three tips, and observe just how effective they can be.

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Stocks that will Flourish Post-Lockdown

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Investors are tasked with the job of reallocating wealth to companies for a chance to gain profits. In this new post-pandemic world, that job still hasn’t changed. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to change the way we do business. Having a digital presence is now a necessity, so the companies facilitating this transition will see an increased demand for their products, which will, in turn, help facilitate any rise in stock price. Those companies are Shopify, Prologis, and Teladoc Health.

Shopify is a company that sells software that enables businesses to create a complete e-commerce business. According to The Motley Fool, this stock “is growing leaps and bounds,” already because of the race for companies to take their inventories online. For most businesses, Shopify offers the easiest way to quickly and easily take their businesses online.

Now that all businesses will be moving online, some businesses may need to invest in storage space for their products. Prologis is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on building and leasing warehouses and fulfillment centers. The Motley Fool reported that Prologis already has customers from big retail giants like Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot, and are already seeing an increase in their operations. Many small companies will now have to use the services offered by Prologis too, so there should be significant growth in revenue.

The health industry is obviously going to be impacted the most as a result of coronavirus. The way we can interact with our medical practitioners has begun to go digital. One of the companies helping to facilitate this new digital healthcare is Teladoc Health. Teladoc Health is a supplier of virtual healthcare services and as more hospitals begin to use their products, they will continue to see significant growth in their profits.

The companies above will undoubtedly flourish once the lockdown is over. The new world that we will be coming into will require the products of these companies now more than ever. They have already seen a significant uptick in the price of their stocks and some analysts claim these stocks are already overpriced. As these companies stand at the forefront of America’s race to transform our economy, the investors who choose them should be richly rewarded.

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Why More Questions are Better in Business

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Over the past few years, the opportunity to start a business has grown by leaps and bounds. This, of course, has led many aspiring entrepreneurs to taking advantage of these opportunities. However, opportunity does not translate to guaranteed success. Therefore, it is incredibly important to not only ask the right questions, but as many questions as possible. Here is why asking more questions can be highly beneficial for your business.

Provides You with the “Why”

In order to attract investors or convince a bank to provide you with a business loan, you are going to need to provide them with a “why.” Why are you starting your business? Why is this the right time and market to start your company? Investors and banks are going to only want to do business with someone who understands their operations thoroughly, before it is up and running. This all begins with your purpose, drive, and “why.”

Brings in the Right Talent

One of the most common mistakes made by new business owners is not asking enough questions during their initial interviews. The allure of someone’s resume and the need for talent can quickly detour the end goal of obtaining the right people on board. Therefore, it is paramount that you ask as many questions as you can in order to feel confident about the experience and the type of people you bring on.

Detours Common Mistakes

As a new business owner, there is no doubt that you are going to make some mistakes. However, this does not mean that you should deal with each and every one of them. For example, during your manufacturing planning, it is highly recommended to ask as many questions as possible. Not asking the right questions can quickly lead to lower-quality products, expensive manufacturing, and crippling shipping costs.

Better Understand Your Customers

It can be easy to drown yourself in your data and assume what your customers want. However, this can be a very bad mistake on your end as assumptions can lead to errors. So, what can you do to avoid this issue? The best thing you can do is ask your customers as many questions as you possibly can. This will provide you with much better data regarding their concerns, dislikes, wants, and needs.

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Ensuring Your First Impression is the Best

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A person’s appearance involves more than just how they dress. Making a great first impression has a lot to do with body language and, of course, an excellent pitch. When going into any business situation or applying for a position within a company, one should always aim to put his or her best foot forward. To ensure that your value is recognized and that you attract great career opportunities, practice the following to an outstanding first impression.

Explain Your Plan of Action

When entering a job interview or consultation, employers don’t want to hear simply about one’s knowledge of the occupational work. Rendering the best first impression always means an individual should point out their plan of action. Employers want to know if a person can point out a work problem, but they also want to see if that person can come up with effective and efficient resolutions. 

People should do extensive research on the position they are applying for and consider potential dilemmas that the organization may face. Afterwards, they can share what they would do to solve these problems. Others will be impressed with this initiative taken as it shows one isn’t apprehensive when it comes to leadership.

Show What Makes You Unique

People should share skill sets and qualities that make them different from the rest within their industry. What sets one apart from the rest? This could be a person’s personality, experience, certifications, or connections.

Listen to Feedback

Some people may overshoot the mark by trying too hard to be noticeable. It’s important to have pride while also being willing to make adjustments. If a person continuously speaks and interrupts without allowing the interviewer to give feedback, they might be seen as arrogant or pretentious. There is always room for improvement. Practicing humility is one of the ways an individual can ensure their first impression is the best one.

Rehearse Your Pitch

Confidence is very important when making a great first impression. Any expression or hindrance of doubt or uncertainty may be interpreted as a potential future liability. This can turn investors off and make them uncertain as to whether or not they should invest in what you have to offer.

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Harnessing the Entrepreneurial Spirit

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The Spirit of a Lion

An entrepreneur is a person who is willing to get out there and make her dreams come true. They are people who want to do life on their own terms, and want to be their own bosses. An entrepreneur may have a fabulous business idea and the skills needed to be a business owner. Unfortunately, there are ups and downs in the world of business. Since that is the case, an entrepreneur does well to maintain good habits. If she does not, she may find herself burnt out and without a career.

  Stay in Work Mode

Savvy entrepreneurs need to know how to show incredible self discipline. When working, an entrepreneur needs to stick to his or her schedule no matter what. When one’s business is starting up, one will often have to work longer hours than planned. This means that even though you are working for yourself, you will have to ensure that you stay on task. You may be tired or want to take an early lunch break, but if you cannot stay on task and maintain responsibility, your business will not stay afloat.

  Know Your Boss

Quite often, aspiring entrepreneurs may believe that once they work for themselves, they have no boss. A savvy entrepreneur realizes that quite the opposite is true. An entrepreneur generally will have several clients, and all of these clients essentially become their bosses. An entrepreneur has to be wise when dealing with all of his or her “bosses,” and they need to take criticism with stride and improve when consistent complaints come in. If one does not pay attention to those giving your business a steady stream of income, that income will be lost.

  Don’t Give Up

Being an entrepreneur can be challenging. An individual has to know how to run a business and also know how to effectively advertise and market it. The challenges that come with entrepreneurial endeavors cause many people to quit early on, but that does not have to be the case. A true entrepreneur must learn to dust him or herself off and get back up when things get rough. When entrepreneurs make tenacity their main characteristic, the odds of finding success increase tenfold. It is just a matter of time. Since you are in charge of your own career, you are in charge of your source of income and, thus, your destiny.

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Managing Partners’ Concerns in Today’s Business World

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Overseeing a law firm can be a daunting task for managing partners. Numerous personal, professional, and business decisions must be made to ensure the establishment remains viable in a competitive market. Fortunately, this undertaking might be accomplished with greater ease provided those charged with this heavy responsibility execute actions like:

Respecting Diversity

In today’s world, entities that respect diversity are looked upon with greater favor. Those who do not employ a diverse staff might not only be viewed with disfavor but receive a significant degree of criticism. In some instances, such practice might even cost a firm valuable clients.

Planning For The Future

Reputable firms understand the importance of transitioning from one generation to the next. Granted, the established, successful, experienced partners generate a significant degree of business, likely work with many of the firm’s top clients and earn the establishment a great deal of income. However, the entity’s leadership must realize that older employees will eventually retire and future generations of prospective leaders must be trained to handle pertinent leadership challenges. Ergo, instructing younger or future partners regarding the proper adaptation of business strategies designed to keep the firm viable for years to come is paramount to planning for the future.

Satisfying Clients

Times may change. However, the need to satisfy clients, many of whom can be difficult and demanding, will always be a major concern for managing partners. While case results often play a significant role in client satisfaction, that action might not be the only issue such persons find pleasing. Legal experts recommend that firms author client satisfaction surveys and submit these works to current or previous clientele. Upon receiving these opinions, the firm’s leadership can work on implementing improvements in areas clients found lacking.

Keeping Up With The Competition

The legal field is highly competitive. Even the top rated firms must keep up with or exceed the competition. Accomplishing this task often requires managing partners to devote a substantial amount of money and time to business dealings like marketing and advertising.

Attracting The Best Candidates

Any law firm’s present and future often hinges upon the quality of the lawyers its leadership hires. Therefore, attracting the best candidates is crucial to sustained success. Reaching this goal might necessitate offering higher salaries and greater benefits. However, allowing top candidates to fall to the competition can prove far more costly over the long haul.

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Courtroom Tactics for a Stronger Management Style

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If you are a manager, then you know that commanding respect and influencing your workers is crucial to your success. It is your job to read the people around you and do everything necessary to get them working as well as possible. In your quest to perfect your management style, you could stand to learn some lessons from lawyers and their interpersonal skills. Here are some courtroom tactics to employ in your role as manager.

Show Empathy

Connecting with other people is all about demonstrating a willingness to listen. By asking simple questions or making pointed observations, you invite the people around you to open up about their private thoughts and concerns. Once you have earned their trust, a more intimate relationship can form by which you’ll be able to see things from their point of view. This can be very helpful in the creation of a harmonious workplace.

Read Body Language

As a manager, it is your job to really know what is going on with the people around you. When someone says something banal to cover their true feelings, it is on you to discover what they really mean. Watch to see if people look quickly away from you, signifying a lack of certainty. Look into people’s eyes when you greet them, and look for subtle movements that indicate a genuine connection.

Use the Power of Your Voice

We all know it’s not just the words you use that matter, but how you say them. Be conscious of how your voice comes off to those around you. Speak softly to display warmth and trust, and imbue your words with empathy and understanding.

Don’t Fear Vulnerability

Whatever your natural inclinations to the contrary may be, there is no harm in showing your emotions. In fact, allowing yourself to seem vulnerable can open lines of connection with other people that otherwise never would have existed. Your own confidence and self-assurance with your feelings will invite similar openness from those around you. This strengthens and deepens human relationships, to the benefit of all.

Dealing with people is the most difficult aspect of most management positions. By employing these courtroom tactics, you can make it a bit easier.

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Joining a Board of Directors

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There are a plethora of career benefits when it comes to joining a board of directors. Broadening a professional network and nurturing one’s professional success are just two reasons many enjoy a spot on the board. Although most professionals assume they must be at the senior-level to join, this is not necessarily true.

Corporate vs. Nonprofit

There are two main types of boards a professional can join. A corporate board of directors supports a paid position for its members while nonprofit is generally volunteer. For this reason, it is usually easier to get a spot on a nonprofit board. To increase the chances of joining a corporate board, lesser-known corporations are often more reliable.

How to Join A Board

Assessing one’s capabilities is the first step to successfully joining a board. Special skills are assets when compared with other professionals in the field. By asking others to honestly compare an individual’s skills against others in the same profession, a potential board member can get a genuine idea of where they rank.

During the interview, it is important to ask questions. Understanding why a specific strategy is used will allow the CEO to walk any potential board member through the process step by step. Asking questions and speaking up is often seen as a confident leadership role. By demonstrating confidence and problem-solving abilities, it is more likely for someone to join either type of board.

Marketing one’s self is usually the best way to show and not tell what is possible. After assessing the unique technical skills that can be showcased, character is the next focus. By picking a few key character attributes, a potential board member can demonstrate their ability to shine. Trustworthiness is frequently a vital character asset for any company. This particular trait can be demonstrated through a resume or present and/or previous professional relationships.

Conclusion

Joining a board of directors involves more than just technical skills. In addition to the skills that make a specific business run smoothly, character and emotional intelligence are key. The ability to read people and understand where their ideas and opinions are coming from is imperative when moving forward with any venture. Empathy, trustworthiness and humility are all characteristics necessary for joining a board of directors. These qualities combined with company knowledge can help any professional successfully join a corporate or nonprofit board of directors.

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Stocks to Buy in February 2020

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February offers income investors ample opportunity to buy high-yield dividend stocks. With the last few months of market gains, it’s easy to forget that companies paying out dividends have greater annualized returns than those companies that did not. 

High-yield stocks do not come without risk, however, so choosing the right stock requires research and time. Investors in these stocks must be willing to buy, hold and reinvest in these stocks, in order to see the best returns. Here are three high-dividend stocks to buy in February:

Annaly Capital Management:NYSE: NLY

Annaly Capital Management is a mortgage real estate investment trust, with a profound ability to (when given warning) adjust to the market. Annaly Capital Management grows its revenue by borrowing at short-term rates and purchasing assets with higher long-term yields. Annaly uses this net interest margin to stack up profits. Better yet, Annaly’s dividend yield is floating at around 10%.

Antero Midstream: NYSE: AM

Antero is an ultra-high-yield dividend stock, getting no credit from wall street. Antero recently announced a fourth-quarter payout of $0.3075 per share, making their annualized dividend yield around 24%. Even taking half a payout hit in dividend yield, they are still making a 12% yielding stock.

Part of the reason why Antero is not finding wall street notoriety is the weak price of natural gas. With demand for natural gas as a liquid expecting to quadruple over the next ten years, Antero is in a prime position to grow with this increased demand.

Alliance Resource Partners: NASDAQ: ARLP

Wall Street’s somewhat negative outlook on coal-based companies has this stock off most people’s radar. Alliance coal worries and a lower payout have made this stock hit an 11-year low. Although this may seem bleak, this low price makes for a great opportunity to open a position in a company with a nearly 17% dividend yield.

Alliance deals in wholesale contracts with locked-in price and volume, this isolates the company from short-term swings in the spot sale coal markets. The company lists 29.4 million tons already committed for this year, with another 18.4 million tons locked in for 2021. Alliance began diversifying by acquiring oil and gas assets, and these new assets made for 7% of consolidated segment adjusted EBITDA in 2019.

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The Most Entrepreneurial Cities in America

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Recent years have seen the development of an excellent environment for entrepreneurship in the United States. The number of self-employed individuals is higher than it has been in decades, with many different sectors of society, from immigrants to the semi-retired, starting businesses of their own.

This boom in start-ups is consequential to a very high percentage of these new companies are finding success. In the past decade, about 80% of startups survived. That dispels the common notion that striking out alone on a new company is usually a losing proposition.

But, as with any economic phenomenon, this boom in entrepreneurship is not happening to the same extent in every part of the country. Some cities see much more start-ups than others. But which cities are the most start-up friendly? Real estate company CloudKitchens recently completed a study to find the “most entrepreneurial” cities in the nation.

In conducting their research, CloudKitchens calculated the percentage of workers in a given city that were self-employed. Then they factored in the city’s median income and the over-represented industries in the area. By this methodology, they determined what cities are the most entrepreneurial in America.

The urban region in the United States with the greatest percentage of self-employment is the Miami metro area, which includes Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. In that area, 15.6 percent of workers are self employed, enough to make Miami the most entrepreneurial city in America.

The New York City area, meanwhile, ranks fifteenth among large cities with 10.5 percent of workers self-employed. While this leaves New Yorkers far behind their South Floridian counterparts, it is nevertheless a positive figure that demonstrates a healthy amount of entrepreneurship in the country’s hub of business activity.

There are small or medium-sized metro areas with even greater percentages of self-employed workers. Among mid-sized cities, the Naples area in Southwest Florida leads the pack with 18 percent of workers self-employed. And Barnstable, a town on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, leads the way among smaller towns with 20.8 percent. On the state level, Vermont and Montana have the highest rates of self-employment.

This is a good time for entrepreneurship in the country, and this research helps us plot the successes on the map.

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Handling a Failure of Risk Management

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Operating a business in changing conditions requires a diligent executive staff. Success in business often requires a certain amount of calculated risk. Experts are hired to evaluate various opportunities. Mergers and partnerships are approached skeptically, with benefits and challenges carefully analyzed. 

Despite the best efforts of a qualified Risk Management team, however, unforeseen challenges may still arise. In some cases, these can appear disastrous at first glance. Business owners must excel at responding to these crises with grace and confidence.

What Could Go Wrong?

Risk management failures are often unavoidable and involve circumstances beyond reasonable control. In the case of Bayer, which purchased Monsanto, unexpected legal issues sabotaged an otherwise positive business transaction. When companies merge, partner with, or take over another business, all the baggage that comes along must be absorbed.

Unfortunate circumstances surrounding the decision for Bayer to move into agricultural and natural healthcare arenas abounded almost instantly. These problems have caused severe financial stress for the 155 year old company. Such unplanned challenges are both damaging and unavoidable.

Critical Response Team

Systematic recovery efforts must be carefully handled. Despite the temptation to react quickly, risk management specialists must chart a course of action. This often means moving slowly to avoid further damage to the company’s reputation. Back to the example of Bayer and Monsanto, careful negotiations are currently underway.

The overall value of Bayer dropped significantly after multiple lawsuits were filed against the traditional company. The devastating litigation resulted from Monsanto’s weed killer product that is now thought to be a carcinogen. As the data began pouring in, agricultural workers began filing suit after suit.

In addition to the social impact of being associated with cancer causing products, Bayer experienced serious backlash from majority shareholders. Financial partnerships quickly dissolved and the controversial business practices of Monsanto came under serious public scrutiny.

Public relations managers provided research and solutions that countered harmful statistics. Multiple and simultaneous efforts have been employed to change the public image. The solutions oriented approach may not be swift, but is typically effective. Much more will need to be delivered to stakeholders, key players, and the general public. Solid quality of the foundation product line will ensure the company remains relevant. Risk management is still an integral part of the company’s revitalization, and their progress will prove steady and positive.

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The Latest in Fintech Benefits

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The term Fintech combines the words finance and technology. It is used to describe the blending of the structure of finance with the efficiency and security of technological innovation. People wholeheartedly believe it is the next level of financial transactions and banking. 

The history of Fintech is not a long one. It was originally used to describe the algorithms attached to the backend of large financial institutions. As technology progressed and grew to encompass more mainstream concepts like cryptocurrency, there was a transfer to more consumer-centric services at all levels. Today’s modern-day Fintech now appears in different fields of industry such as banking, investing, fundraising, and education, among others.

Disruptive innovation is a very specific way of describing an industry’s growth. It refers to a change in some existing way of doing things that ends up disrupting the status quo. Sometimes new markets and products are created. Sometimes entire value networks are rearranged and new alliances are formed. The idea is always to shake things up with the intention of moving technology forward.

Fintech falls under the category of disruptive innovation by following several models of development and entering multiple sectors of commerce. There are the new entrants, seeking their own place in the world as startups. They have often done their due diligence and are ready to target a specific demographic or sell a particular product or service. They are most interested in gaining a consumer following and obtaining funding. Peer-to-peer lending is a way of acquiring financing without having to face the scrutiny of qualifiers from larger financial firms, which is sometimes the difference between the life and death of a startup company. 

Existing financial institutions are using Fintech innovations to increase the speed and performance of their present-day methodologies. They invest a significant amount of money into the peace of mind that accompanies tighter security on financial transactions and customers’ private data, as well as getting a leg up on their competition. 

Regardless of where a company is in its lifecycle, the concept of blockchain technology is perhaps one of the most commonly known fintech innovations. Blockchain is a technology that allows senders and recipients to make instant financial transactions on a secure network without the need for a middleman, such as a bank. All financial transactions made on a blockchain are completely secure, which is the other reason for its massive following. In addition, because of the design, every transaction is kept in a ledger that keeps a precise record of what happens.

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Technology’s Positive Impact on Insurance

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Technology has had an impact on everything else in our lives, so it’s no surprise that it has also changed the world of insurance buying. Going beyond simply ease of use, it has empowered today’s savvy shopper with increased knowledge about their choices in a world full of confusing data and fine print. Regardless of whether it’s for healthcare, home or auto, or even bundled in a combination of all three, people no longer want to do things the old fashioned way when it comes to buying personal insurance policies or filing claims.

The ancient way of deciding on an insurance company and plan used to involve picking up a telephone and speaking to a human being about options for insurance plans, then being forced to hang up and call another human at another insurance provider and ask the same questions, all while taking notes in order to compare later. That may seem like an ancient practice, but it only stopped being that much of a manual process within recent years.

There are several ways that technology is updating the world of insurance. Whether it’s choosing a plan or filing a claim, people want any and all of their specific, custom-filtered information to be made available to them on demand, as quickly as possible. In addition, no matter where they are at any moment, they want the ability to instantly do a comparison and make quick decisions, even in the palm of their hand. 

In today’s world of apps and high-speed internet, this is a mostly-solved issue. There are currently over two million applications being circulated, and hundreds of them are created just for the sole purpose of generating specific insurance quotes for civilians who are not confined to any specific demographic. Artificial Intelligence saves everyone time and money by automating the repetitive claim processing and policy comparisons that used to require employing a staff.

As long as you qualify, anyone can shop around for any type of insurance without the need for interacting directly through an agent. 

Technology’s impact on the insurance industry isn’t simply about taking the headache out of buying, it’s also saving people money. The costs are now lower because a lot of features are being automated. The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible to perform a variety of functions without the need for human-to-human interaction.

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