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Reginald Chan – Page 35 – Serious Talks on Marketing & Relationships Matters

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Reliable Options That Will Help You Invest Your Money For Your Retirement

Saving for retirement should be a top priority for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting your first job or you’re about to move away from the workforce; if you have time, you have to make the best out of it. For that reason, most people start looking for profitable investments to grow their retirement portfolios. However, not every kind of investment can be described as smart, and that can only be judged according to your situation. This is why we’re going to go over effective options that will prove to be reliable ways to invest money for your retirement.

Retirement Accounts

First things first, let’s talk about the retirement accounts that will hold your investment returns. You have three options: saving money in the retirement account offered by your employer, opening a self-directed IRA, or saving in a normal investment account. Let’s explore the three options in more detail.

1. Employer-Sponsored Plans

Your employer may offer you more than one option to choose from or they can just offer a default account for all employees. An employer-sponsored plan can be 401(k), 403 (k), HSA, or other plans. These plans can either be traditional or Roth. A traditional plan will allow you to contribute pre-tax money, so you can escape taxes on the money you put into the account, while a Roth plan uses income after taxes, so you can get around taxes when you withdraw from the plan. One of the greatest features of this option is when your employer offers to match your contributions to the plan, which is something you totally have to take advantage of.

2. Self-Directed IRAs

Perhaps the downside of employer-offered plans is that you become restricted by their investment options. Alternatively, you can open a self-directed IRA account. The financial planners on this site explain the advantages of this option, where self-directed IRAs give you more flexibility in diversifying your portfolio beyond the traditional forms of investment. You’ll still be able to invest in the traditional categories, like bonds and stocks, but you’ll have the added advantage of seeking alternative forms of investments as well.

3. Investment Account

While the first two options offer the best deals for retirement investment, they have one significant shortcoming. These kinds of accounts are capped at a certain maximum regarding the money you can save on them monthly and annually. You may not have any issues with this limit if you’ve started early on, with more than 30 years left until your retirement. However, for those who’re looking for ways to catch up on their savings while nearing their retirement, a normal investment account offers them more flexibility. Unfortunately, this option won’t include any tax-advantages.

Reliable Investment Options

With your savings account in place, it’s time to address the question you’ve been wondering about. What should you invest in? Technically speaking, you can invest in any category. Asset classes usually include three categories: stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents. There are also alternative forms of investment. The only factor that will restrict your freedom is the age at which you start saving for retirement, although a good retirement portfolio will usually include all of the previous forms of investment.

That being said, here are your options.

1. Stocks

Stocks are best for long-term investments; they give you the largest investment returns over the years. However, they’re highly volatile in nature, and that makes them a poor investment choice if you’re looking for a short-term investment. That means that they’re high-risk investments that you should stay away from if you’re nearing retirement, but they’re great if you have more than 30 years ahead of you to save money. A long duration of investment can also overcome the effect of inflation, adding to their investment return vs risk advantage.

2. Bonds

Bonds come somewhere in between stocks and cash equivalents in both the risk factor and the investment returns. They’re not as volatile as stocks, and they’re also secure and stable in their interest accumulation. All of that makes them a safer form of investment. Moreover, you can also find bonds that provide tax-free income. On the other hand, they give less long-term returns compared to stocks. It’s common for people to change their asset allocation as they age, decreasing their investment in stocks and increasing it in bonds.

3. Cash Equivalents

Cash equivalents offer the least returns, but they also come with the least risk of all forms of investment. They have the advantage of being highly liquid, allowing you to withdraw them at any time without penalties. Cash equivalents are usually used for short-term securities, and they include certificates of deposit, treasury bills, corporate commercial paper, and other money-market funds.

4. Alternative Investments

In addition to the primary three investment assets, many people are increasingly seeking alternative investments. These investments can be in the form of private equity, real estate, gold, or other hard assets. Some also invest in artifacts and the like. Although these forms of investment may not be as secure or reliable as the primary three assets, they’re a great option for mitigating the risk that comes with market fluctuations. For instance, you may find the stock market crashing all of a sudden due to a worldwide pandemic. Unless you have an alternative form of investment that adds to your portfolio during such challenging times, you’ll suffer from the aftermath of that crash.

However, alternative investments are not available with all retirement accounts. You’ll have to open a self-directed IRA with a passive custodian to have the freedom to invest in any assets you choose. While a self-directed IRA may offer you a certain level of freedom in alternate investing, you’ll still be limited to the products your bank or financial institute sells. To invest in a more controversial way, like cryptocurrency, you’ll need a passive custodian.

It’s never too early to start saving for retirement, but it’s never too late either. You can always start at any point in your life, although starting early surely gives you the advantage. The whole difference lies in the way you approach retirement investment. For instance, risky investments like stocks are better when you’re in it for the long-term, while more secure kinds of investment can be a smarter option the closer you get to retirement. In short, your options will significantly vary depending on the age you start saving and your estimated retirement age.

March 22, 2025
Building Long-Term Customer Relationships: Lessons from the Casino Industry

Every business should have strategies in place to help it build long-term customer relationships. Customers who repeatedly visit your business, website or any other sales channel are much more valuable over time and can transfer their love for your business to others. Building these relationships is never easy, but there are important lessons to be learned from an industry that has been able to do this over and over again – the casino industry.

Complimentary Rewards

A common feature among casino websites is how generous they are with their complimentary gifts. According to several surveys, only about 40% of companies not in the casino industry give customers, leads or other businesses they are building relationships with complimentary gifts.

From free drinks and meals to hotel rooms, casinos lean heavily into this relationship-building strategy and it is relatively easy to find examples of Australian gambling websites doing this. To get started, think about what your clients and customers want. For customers, gift cards are inexpensive and work really well while for larger clients, you might have to go with something bigger.

Taking Advantage of Events

One of the best ways to make customers feel important is to invite them to events. Your repeat customers, especially other businesses, likely have a lot in common, and getting them together for an event makes them feel appreciated and thought about.

Additionally, you can use your social media as a way of building these relationships by inviting people who share your products on social media to VIP events.

Demographic Preferences and Segmentation

Although casino players might look like they have the same needs, that is not always the case. A close look reveals that older players spend about 80% of their budget on gaming and the rest on food while younger generations spend about 30% on gaming and 70% on other activities.

This means that if you were to come up with a marketing campaign, you would advertise your games to older generations while advertising a full-featured experience for younger generations that focuses less on gaming and more on the activities that surround it.

The lesson here is that by segmenting your demographics and cross-referencing them with their spending habits, you can find out what they prefer. You can then invest in the products and services they are likely to spend money on. Doing this makes your customers feel catered to which improves their relationship with your business.

Partner with Other Businesses

Casinos know that players do more than sit at the table and play. They may need food, drinks or even hotel rooms. They collaborate with other businesses to cut deals to offer additional services to their high-end customers and big spenders. For example, it is common to see casinos cutting deals with travel companies to offer discounts to their best customers.

To use this strategy, think about what else your top customers and clients need besides your products and services. Then, cut deals with other businesses to offer discounts to your customers and you to do the same for their customers who need your products and services. The casino industry builds strong customer relationships in ways other industries struggle to. The casino industry views relationship-building very differently, and if your business can have a closer look at how it does this, you could end up with valuable lessons that help you build stronger and better customer relationships in your business.

March 22, 2025
7 Essential Tech Solutions for Small Businesses

Technology can always improve businesses and their daily activities, streamlining every step to save time, effort, and money. Implementing tech solutions can empower your employees, making them work harder and focus better.

If you’re thinking about taking your business to the next level, then read on to learn more about seven essential tech solutions that can be beneficial for you and your company.

1-Artificial Intelligence (A.I)

One of the most effective tech solutions that any business should utilize is artificial intelligence (A.I) because it effortlessly streamlines every task. Implementing it will transform small businesses and help them compete with bigger corporations. The benefits you gain include machine learning, which means processing large amounts of information, tasks, and data quickly. Automation protocols that finish trivial and repetitive tasks quickly, giving your employees a chance to finish their important duties. A.I should be managed and set properly to ensure that it continues to minimize mistakes for you, eliminating human errors that can be easily missed.

2-Cybersecurity

Small businesses need defense protocols against malicious digital attacks and using cybersecurity solutions can keep their data protected. Having the right software programs and the professional IT specialists that can manage it is key, allowing you to prevent cybercriminals from penetrating your system. Kansas has several major companies that can be targeted by hackers and cybercriminals, making protective software programs a necessity. Advice from several digital specialists and IT support in Kansas City suggests that threat monitoring tools that protect networks should be easily managed to eliminate IT frustrations. This means that the right program that is simple to use and effective in protecting data can be worth the cost to have complete digital security.

3-Electronic Timesheets

Utilizing electronic timesheets can increase productivity levels significantly in your business. This type of tech solution allows you to monitor the progress of each employee, project, timestamps, history data, and reports. One of the best advantages of timesheets is that it can be customized to fit your business needs and requirements, allowing you to create custom fields that don’t require manual entries. It reduces time and effort, allowing every supervisor to monitor and oversee each project and every department effortlessly. Electronic timesheets allow you to see which project is progressing right and which ones aren’t profitable. The perks of monitoring each task this way will always improve productivity and success levels in any small business.

4-Customer Communication Tools

Another way to improve your company’s practices is by having customer communication tools that make it a hassle-free experience for both your customers and employees. Increasing satisfaction and retention levels should be one of the main priorities of a small business because customers can elevate the company to gain more success.

Your business should have systems that allow clients to open a line of communication with you through live chat systems, emails, or virtual assistants. You could either hunt for a pre-made system for that specific purpose or have one custom-made by a programmer. However, make sure you know the right way to find a programmer for your start-up.

As a result, problem-solving protocols will be easier and customers will be happier, increasing your brand recognition levels significantly.

5-Employee Collaboration Tools

Implementing software programs and digital tools that increase employee collaboration can improve productivity levels. Staff members will be able to communicate easily and in real-time, sending important documents or data to each other effortlessly. Team leaders can use these tools to coordinate between every employee, ensuring that everyone is on the right track. Communication and collaboration can streamline your small business and allow it to succeed a lot more.

6-Cloud Systems

Cloud systems are quite useful for storage and protection, making the process of saving and sending data a hassle-free experience. Backing up your data on the cloud will always protect your company from system failures or cyberattacks. Even if your main servers and data were compromised or got deleted, you will have the essential backup to ensure that your client and project information isn’t lost.

7-Mobile Applications for Payments

Companies can use mobile applications for payments to speed up the process, making it easier and better for both the business and the customers. The idea is to incorporate a tech solution that allows customers to pay using their smartphones, getting funds directly and quickly from them without waiting. Mobile applications will streamline the payment process and save a lot of time because credit and digital payments are easier for the customer.

Business owners and entrepreneurs must utilize tech solutions for the sake of survival. Customers and clients will appreciate a company that uses technology to improve their experience, increasing your customer retention levels tremendously. When your employees don’t waste time on trivial tasks and finish important activities quickly, productivity levels will skyrocket beyond your expectations. Undoubtedly, technology will always improve and elevate any small business and help it expand for more success.

March 22, 2025
Why Speed Matters: The Impact of A Responsive Website For A Business
If you are a business owner and have a business website, the chances are that you have seen the mobile revolution technology has brought to the business scene. Whether you like it or not, you want your business website designed in such a way that favors mobile users.

In this day and age, website developers are so much into how websites can be responsive via mobile devices. But this is not what website responsiveness is all about. Various elements must be at play for this to happen. So, what’s all the fuss about website loading speeds? Here’s the impact of a responsive website for a business.

Adjustability

Gone are the days when you had to make do with a slow website. Today, and if you haven’t noticed, consumers are savvier than they used to be. Not so many website visitors will be willing to waste their time on a non-responsive website. This can be attributed to the fact that life has gotten busier and not to forget the power of fast connectivity. Needless to mention is the fact that your business profitability is highly dependent on your website’s loading speeds.

Additionally, mobile design technology is at another level. The best part of it all is that you have the option of choosing web designers and hosting services of your choosing. This way, they’ll create a web design that’s easily adjustable and one that will provide you with the flexibility you deserve. This bronze reseller hosting option is one example of the many hosting services you can rely on to ensure that you get the hosting services you deserve. So, why do you need a good hosting company? Here’s why:
- Improved web loading times
- You get to benefit from a secured IP address
- Lowered chances of disruptions and downtimes
- Professional advice on how to manage your website
- 24/7 customer support
- It makes it easier to scale your business operations
- Better website maintenance services
Increased Sales And Great ROI

The fact of the matter is, you still want to have your investment bear fruit. No one creates a responsive website without a clear cut-out plan. While there exist a plethora of SEO strategies that are geared to improving your business website, none is as effective as having a responsive website. A responsive website helps to generate quality traffic to websites, and this is what most, if not all, profit-oriented businessmen and women are capitalizing on. At the end of the day, you want your products to receive the attention they deserve. Do not limit your business to just having an ordinary website. Consider a website that can help to expand your business horizons.

Manageability And Increased Efficiency

Never has it been easier to manage a responsive website as in this day and age. Today, you have the option of investing in an all-inclusive platform that can be integrated into most of your business processes, making it easier to track results. Now, this is where analytics come in handy. With a generated responsive website design from the best web designers, you’ll have the ease of tracking success. You’ll also be aware of how your competitors are doing in the market. This has, in so many ways, helped businesses develop strategic tactics to help overcome today’s competitive market space.

Increased Visibility

Now, who wouldn’t want their brands to become the talk of the town? Today, brand awareness is among the factors that contribute to success. Even with the best marketing strategies, you wouldn’t want your web visitors discouraged just because your website loading speeds are below average. Investing in responsive websites has helped businesses boost their brand visibility and, in a way, helped to boost awareness and sales. Profitability should always be at the top of every entrepreneur’s priorities. And what better way than in ensuring that your website is responsive?

Compliance With Google’s Recommendations

Just the other day, Google announced that only responsive websites would be awarded the best positions, this, coupled with other SEO strategies such as ensuring that websites are optimized for mobile use. There have been, however, recent changes and updates to ensure that these recommendations are towards improving user experience. Investing in responsive websites has helped businesses comply with Google’s recommendations. It’s for this reason that some sites will rank higher than others. By this, it means always ensuring that your website is always as per Google’s ever-changing algorithm updates.

Time Management

Time is money. Every second wasted is money flushed down the drain. Rather than going for the conventional approach that involved creating a dedicated website for mobile users, you’ll have a single website that is optimized for all users. This is not only time-saving, but it’s also a cost-effective approach when running an e-commerce website.

Additionally, this has allowed entrepreneurs to minimize the resources they’d have otherwise used in administrative tasks. Enlisting the help of expert web designers means that you’ll have your work cut out for you. You’ll have a single interface that you can manage from anywhere, even while on the go. It’s for this reason that hiring a professional web hosting company cannot be reiterated enough, as it’s the only way this can be made possible.

Creation Of Advanced Business Website Management Tools

You’ll agree that since the inception of this idea of having responsive websites, a lot has changed in the business management arena. Its become easier to manage business websites than it was years back. This has helped to trim the workload business managers had to put in. This is a smart move for e-commerce businesses looking to cut their business running costs. This has helped to boost profit margins as well as help to boost efficiency.

There you go! If you are yet to get on board with the idea of having a responsive business website, then your business could be bleeding valuable resources by the minute. The above pointers will provide you with insights on how your business could benefit from having a responsive website. Others are doing it, don’t be left out!
March 22, 2025
Expert Tips That Will Prevent Your Office From Experiencing Serious IT Problems

A person can have their hands full setting up a company and keeping it running. There are so many considerations ranging from budgeting, employment, providing goods and services, premises, marketing, and advertising.

Virtually every business is dependent on its computers. They provide access to the internet, cloud data, customers, and so on. When a workplace goes paperless, it means the work data has migrated online. This is a very popular thing because it makes offices tidier, but it creates a huge vulnerability too. What if the computers crash or the data is hacked? Could a company survive such a hit? Let’s look at some tips to help protect a business from the unthinkable.

Understand the Implications

If a business doesn’t grasp the full risk, it will not invest in protecting its computer systems. The money will be spent on ‘more important things’ than employing quality staff to oversee the IT.

Almost one-third of all small business crimes related to malware issues. It’s a sobering statistic that the average fee to recover from an online data breach is $4m. Few small businesses have this much money in reserve! That’s why 60% of businesses only last half a year after encountering a cyber attack.

Obtain Third Party Help

It can be very reassuring when certified Microsoft or Apple engineers visit the workplace to make an IT assessment. People often employ the use of manager services so they can have the latest technology and platforms recommended to them. Such IT companies will know how to bring together the different streams of email, data storage, software, and the internet seamlessly.

On a continuing basis, IT management companies perform risk assessments, look at cost savings, and recommend upgrades and downloads.

Employ Quality IT Staff

A business should never cut corners when employing its own computer technicians. If it cannot afford a third party to oversee its IT, everything will depend on them. Computer staff will have access to all company data, so it’s essential they can be trusted.

Money should regularly be spent on keeping IT workers up to date because today’s cutting edge computer systems will become tomorrow’s dinosaurs. Spend money on training and let them gain new qualifications.

The world of IT is very broad, however, and it’s unlikely one person will have the expertise to cover everything for one business.

Manage the Staff

Every business should have an IT policy. Employees need to be educated that there are risks when a person leaves their computer unlocked. If they leave their workstation to urgently catch someone or make a coffee, anyone can access their data.

If access to the work building is gained using security cards, this can be really helpful. Different staff can be given access to different areas.

When computer data are held in the cloud, access levels can once again be restricted. Selected folk will be able to open documents, edit them, and share them. This can provide a safeguard against everyone looking at whatever they want.

Install a Firewall

This needs to be an integral part of a company’s IT infrastructure. It will be designed to keep intruders out of the computer network. Firewalls watch incoming and outgoing computer traffic day and night. If it detects something as a threat, it will report and block it.

Use Antivirus Software

These days this protects against more than just viruses. The online world is full of malware, ransomware, trojans, spyware, and more.

It’s a sound business decision when a company purchases an expensive version. This is because the more costly software can also tackle such things as online banking or phishing attacks, or spam emails.

Maintain Passwords

Just as emails are more secure when they are encrypted, passwords are more secure when they are complex. Staff should have their key documents (e.g. in Excel or Word) password protected. Access to different software should be by password only.

Staff should not write down their passwords in a book. This is because the information could easily be found by someone else. The IT policy should advise that people must not share their passwords either.

Backup All Data

This can be so easy to ignore, yet be perilous in its implications. If people keep key documents on USB sticks or external drives, the data can degrade over time. They can also get lost or stolen.

When data is stored on a cloud system, it won’t matter if an individual computer or laptop breaks – the data will still be secure.

Have a Backup Generator

If a business encountered a sudden power outage, valuable equipment could be irrevocably damaged. Access could suddenly be lost to email, the internet, and the cloud. Valuable data could be lost at that moment too.

Companies should invest in backup generators. The portable versions may work for small businesses, but a fixed one would be needed for something larger. When the equipment has been installed, there would merely be a ten-second gap before the electricity was restored. It would be a totally automatic procedure, requiring no human intervention.

An added bonus would be that the electric locks, cameras, and alarms would also be back up and running in no time. The premises would be fully protected once more, including the valuable IT equipment. Staff would be able to continue working normally.

Have a Disaster Recovery Policy

Every company needs to have a business continuity plan. This would be for such events as power cuts, hurricanes, fires, or earthquakes. Perhaps an insurance policy should be put in place.

Businesses should consider certain scenarios and document how the company could continue. A strategy would need to be put in place. If a third party company is overseeing the IT system, they would be able to help with compiling this report.

Companies should look at what is held online or in paper format. What data would be backed up, and could there be alternative premises and equipment available at short notice? These are all valuable questions.

We have discussed enough aspects to realize that IT problems can not just cripple a company- they can destroy it. Businesses are not wasting money when they act to protect themselves; they are investing in their future. Everything has to work together, from the equipment to the staff and external companies.

March 22, 2025
Integrating Salesforce With WPForms

Have you ever wished to integrate Salesforce with your WordPress site? If you have been thinking about it, I’ve some awesome news for you today!

Salesforce is now easily integrate-able with WordPress using WPForms plugin. The Salesforce addon will let you automatically send form entries from WPForms to Salesforce CRM.

If you’ve been copying data from your form entries to Salesforce, this addon will be a game-changer.

And you don’t need to pay for a service like Zapier to connect WordPress to Salesforce. So you’ll save money too.

Automatically Create Salesforce Objects

The new integration between Salesforce and WPForms allows you to easily create objects in Salesforce without coding skills.

The best part? You can do it directly with WPForms.

Here’s how it is done quickly and correctly.

Create Salesforce Object in WPforms

There are many other ways you can use WPForms with Salesforce, including creating a new Lead from each submission. In short the possibilities are rather endless right here.

The next step involves mapping the fields. Here’s how it is done quickly.

Salesforce WPForms Addon Field Mapping

Not only what you can also leverage the advanced Conditional Logic if you want to have a better control on both WPforms and Salesforce integration.

Salesforce and WPForms

I find this integration very cool and I recommend you to give it a shot!

Oh yes, this unique WPForm integration with Salesforce is available for Elite plans (and above). Click here to learn more about WPforms (and free download).

March 22, 2025