sponsored content

Don’t Let Bottle Service Bust Your Budget

By LearnVest

You’re making good money, and it’s easy to want to blow that whole paycheck. But we’ll show you a simple rule that will allow you to live large and get your financial house in order too.

If you went into finance for the love of pulling 15-hour days, more power to you. But if working in anticipation of that fateful day in February when your bonus hits your bank account, let’s just say that you aren’t alone.

When your monthly paycheck arrives, you might get stars in your eyes. You forget about that massive student loan and nagging credit card bills. Suddenly bottle service every weekend seems like a great idea. Who doesn’t love those sparklers? If you’re not careful, those morning hangovers could have a lasting effect on your bank balance. Here’s a quick crash course in how to divide up your earnings like a boss—ahem, managing director so that you can still afford the life you want without busting your budget.

Let’s discuss some general guidelines, which make up what we like to call the 50/20/30 Rule:

Read more »

What Logistics Mean to Small Businesses

Discussions about Logistics are often focused on the features that benefit large companies and corporations—exporting and importing, managing a complex supply chain, and global marketing strategies. But Logistics can also bring tremendous benefits to small businesses as well.

Logistics provides small businesses with advantages and resources that they might not be able to access otherwise, and helps to eliminate waste, reduce errors, and increase efficiency. For example, Logistics can automate many administrative tasks, freeing up time and resources so that staff can focus on more important things. Logistics also provides billing technology solutions that coordinate with software like QuickBooks and Peachtree, making accounting and invoicing easier and simpler. Read more »

How Logistics can improve your relationships with clients and customers

In today’s uncertain economic climate, customer loyalty is the key to building steady revenue and a strong client base. When clients and customers are satisfied with their experiences with your company and with your product—whether it consists of goods, information, services, or funds—they’re more likely to repeat their purchase and improve the reputation of your brand.

UPS Logistics offers many ways to increase the satisfaction of your clients and customers, including the easy return process created by Reverse Logistics, more visibility and control over the delivery process through UPS MyChoice, more efficient order processing through UPS technology, and a wider range of options for delivery speed. Read more »

Smarter Student Loans

A Social Finance Revolution

The SoFi founders met at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) at a time of historically low interest rates. But when they looked at the options for funding their education, the choices weren’t great. With student loan interest rates so high and U.S. student debt exceeding $1 trillion, it was clear that there had to be a better way. Read more »

The Case For Equities: The Future Of Corporate Profit Margins

With the economic recovery stalling and continuing crises in Europe, U.S. equity investors are understandably nervous about the prospect for stocks. Halfway through 2012, the S&P 500 index is up 7.5%, but volatility remains high, with the market moving up or down by more than 1% twenty-eight times so far this year as the market seems to be driven more by news out of Europe than by companies’ fundamental earnings prospects.

All this noise may obscure a surprising fact: U.S. corporate profits, as a percentage of the economy, are at an all-time high. The market, though, may not be giving companies much credit for those robust margins: despite positive returns on stocks this year, and continuing fund flows into equities, the S&P 500 trades at just under 14x trailing-12-month earnings, well below the 10-year average of almost 17x. This suggests an expectation that current robust profit margins cannot continue; indeed, analysts at Goldman Sachs calculated an implied EPS growth rate for the S&P of negative 12.6% over the next five years.

Read more »

What the Fed’s Crisis Response Could Mean for Your Future Purchasing Power

By



The extraordinary crises in the world economy over the last several years have led to an equally extraordinary monetary response from the Federal Reserve. Some six trillion dollars have been created since 2008 by the world’s major central banks to cushion financial markets and ease deflationary pressures. The Fed has more than tripled the size of its balance sheet since the crisis began, holding short-term interest rates near zero since the end of 2008 and embarking on several rounds of “quantitative easing” in an effort to push down longer-term rates and stimulate economic activity. Read more »

Æsir Society

If you manage to land a job at a large investment bank or a large law firm, a few things are probably obvious: you are busy. You have a little bit of spending money to throw around. And your time is valuable.

If you live in New York City and you are still on the young side, you might also enjoy taking advantage of the sparse spare time you have. It’s not worth putting in the long hours to take home the big checks if you don’t take advantage of it, right? Read more »

Steven Alan take an additional 25% off all SALE!

By Dealbreaker

Having spent the past 17 years creating a mini fashion world grounded in classic American roots – fashioned with a twist – it’s clear that Steven Alan has quietly emerged an uncommon fashion pioneer. Read more »

Woven Society’s Wagner Custom Skis Concierge Program

By Dealbreaker

If you’ve ever hit the slopes on a pair of rented skis, you know fit is everything, and even a millimeter can make a big difference in your performance on the mountain. That’s why you need Wagner Custom Skis, made by die-hard skier and mechanical engineer Pete Wagner one pair at a time in an ultra-modern shop powered entirely by wind and sun. Wagner skis are built with everything from Kevlar and carbon fiber wraps to old-school standbys like sugar maple and aspen, with a variety of flex and bases for optimum speed in different weather conditions and on specific courses. Read more »

Goodbye to Business Travel

By Dealbreaker

Earlier this year, I spent several months making frequent transcontinental phone calls for articles I had to write. From my west coast office, I had long conversations with businesspeople in Belgium, England and even Ethiopia. But I never used a phone, and I definitely didn’t fly anywhere. I called from my laptop, using Skype.

The connection was generally better than my cell phone, and way, way cheaper.

We’re living in a mobile, location-flexible world, and more than ever, employees work from their homes and favorite cafes, in addition to their cubicles. Folks can do this—often without much travel–because of all the tools we have to stay in touch with clients and coworkers across town, or across the country.

Email and instant messaging are old news. Now we’ve got videoconferencing – on your tablet, your ultrabook, your Smart TV, and even your smart phone.

Read more »

JACK SPADE Surplus Sale!

By DEALBREAKER

There are a handful of products that men everywhere turn to for reliability and inherent style. Military issue chinos, Timex watches, Levi’s — these products were originally designed to serve a purpose and represent the proverbial “real McCoy.” JACK SPADE was created with these products in mind. We believe in offering men items with honest, thoughtful design and practical purpose. Read more »