Portfolio got you down? Delma Luna says to “Stay the course”. At the June meeting of Yuma’s American Business Women’s Association, Delma Luna provided insight into investing to achieve your goals.
There are several reasons that investors fail in their finances:
• Procrastination is the biggest reason. The sooner you start planning for retirement, the better. How much of your retirement income is your responsibility? Social security and pensions will account for not quite half of your retirement funds. The remainder will need to come from your savings. Social security will just be a portion of what you will need in retirement. The system is in trouble and a person can’t depend on it to be there in the future in its present form.
• Ignorance of investment fundamentals such as asset allocation, diversification, and using insurance. Asset allocation is how your money is divided between cash, stocks, bond and other investments. Diversification is spreading your money around to many different investments to spread out the risk. Life insurance fills a need if something happens to you before retirement to protect your family.
• Ignorance of tax laws, not using the tax-deferred options available to an individual and through employment. Using tax deferral in a retirement account allows you to save and defer the taxes until the money is withdrawn in retirement. The maximum amount to contribute to an IRA in 2009 is $5000 with a $1000 catch-up if you are over age 50. Roth IRAs allow you to save for retirement using money that has been taxed already and then it is tax free upon withdrawal.
• Retirement Distribution Planning – not planning how to take the withdrawals once in retirement, either by taking too much, or from the wrong place in the wrong order.
• Not being ready for the unexpected. This is where an emergency fund and insurance comes in, such as life and long term care insurance.
• Not having a comprehensive retirement strategy – having a plan make all the difference in the world. Working with a financial advisor can help ease the way.
Delma can be contacted at (928) 329-1700 or by email Delma.luna@lpl.com
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Creating the "Brand YOU"
If you are a business owner, you should be developing your brand. When people think of your product or offering, is it synonymous with YOU?
People need the marketing to be simple, repetitive, and clear for them to start identifying with your brand.
*Is it clear what is special about your company? (What is your competitive advantage?)
*Who is your target market and how are you reaching out to them? Are you identifying with their need?
Branding should be specific. Highlight your skills as an expert in your field.
Make your advantage clear. Accentuate your competitive advantage over other organizations.
Use your visual identity. Make your brand powerful and unique, and that starts with you. Be sure to identify yourself with visuals in all of your marketing. Make sure your image is always professional and memorable.
Networking, networking, networking! Offer something of value to your network. Use your alliances to build new business relationships.
Define your target market. Identify who you want to do business with, and then determine the "what's in it for me?" for your target market. You must offer something of value to them.
Recommended read on branding: The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business. Catherine Kaputa (2009). www.femalebrand.com
People need the marketing to be simple, repetitive, and clear for them to start identifying with your brand.
*Is it clear what is special about your company? (What is your competitive advantage?)
*Who is your target market and how are you reaching out to them? Are you identifying with their need?
Branding should be specific. Highlight your skills as an expert in your field.
Make your advantage clear. Accentuate your competitive advantage over other organizations.
Use your visual identity. Make your brand powerful and unique, and that starts with you. Be sure to identify yourself with visuals in all of your marketing. Make sure your image is always professional and memorable.
Networking, networking, networking! Offer something of value to your network. Use your alliances to build new business relationships.
Define your target market. Identify who you want to do business with, and then determine the "what's in it for me?" for your target market. You must offer something of value to them.
Recommended read on branding: The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business. Catherine Kaputa (2009). www.femalebrand.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Key Learnings from the ASTD International Conference "Disney Institute" session
The First session I attended was “Inspiring Creativity, Disney Style” presented by Joanne Recek and Lisa Spahn from the Disney Institute. Overall, they provided a lot of really interesting information about how the Disney Corporation encourages Disney cast members (employees) to use creativity to solve problems. Here is a snap shot of what I learned.
Disney’s Chain of Excellence
1) Leadership Excellence
2) Cast Excellence
3) Guest Satisfaction
4) Financial Results/Repeat Business
How they Do This
1) A committed, responsible, inspiring leader
2) Develops a creative culture of people
3) Who create innovative products and services
4) To provide towards the organization’s bottom line while creating a unique organizational identity.
One method they highly recommended for fostering creativity is the “Yes, and…” approach.
In essence, the “Yes, and…” approach is based on the idea that we shouldn’t discount ideas, but rather expand on them.
To help illustrate this point, the presenters had us pretend like we were going to create a store that was going to sell rocks. Here are two expansions on this idea:
1) Yes, and we’re going to specialize in high-end rocks that people think are valuable.
2) Yes, and we’re going to find rocks that can match peoples’ decor in their homes.
The presenters are also recommended that people Think Inside the Box:
1) Vision - To Be
2) Mission - To Do
3) Customer - For Whom
4) Essence - To Feel
Next they talked about expanding one’s organizational identity by 1) brand name recognition, 2) Products and/or services, and 3) Customer/market segment.
Lastly, they discussed the Disney method for Continuous Improvement:
1) Listen and Learn
2) Measure
3) Act
4) Re-Measure
5) Recognize and Celebrate
6) Share
To illustrate this process, they talked about how they took the character Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise and turned him into a figure at all of their theme parks and their private Island (where Disney cruise lines dock). In essence, people were riding the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was one of the first rides at Disney land, after the movie came out and were not seeing Captain Jack. Disney decided to determine if everyone wanted to see Captain Jack in the ride, and the results were overwhelming positive, so Jack has now become a mainstay in the Pirates ride at both Disney World and Disney Land.
**Written by Jason S. Wrench, reposted with permission
Disney’s Chain of Excellence
1) Leadership Excellence
2) Cast Excellence
3) Guest Satisfaction
4) Financial Results/Repeat Business
How they Do This
1) A committed, responsible, inspiring leader
2) Develops a creative culture of people
3) Who create innovative products and services
4) To provide towards the organization’s bottom line while creating a unique organizational identity.
One method they highly recommended for fostering creativity is the “Yes, and…” approach.
In essence, the “Yes, and…” approach is based on the idea that we shouldn’t discount ideas, but rather expand on them.
To help illustrate this point, the presenters had us pretend like we were going to create a store that was going to sell rocks. Here are two expansions on this idea:
1) Yes, and we’re going to specialize in high-end rocks that people think are valuable.
2) Yes, and we’re going to find rocks that can match peoples’ decor in their homes.
The presenters are also recommended that people Think Inside the Box:
1) Vision - To Be
2) Mission - To Do
3) Customer - For Whom
4) Essence - To Feel
Next they talked about expanding one’s organizational identity by 1) brand name recognition, 2) Products and/or services, and 3) Customer/market segment.
Lastly, they discussed the Disney method for Continuous Improvement:
1) Listen and Learn
2) Measure
3) Act
4) Re-Measure
5) Recognize and Celebrate
6) Share
To illustrate this process, they talked about how they took the character Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise and turned him into a figure at all of their theme parks and their private Island (where Disney cruise lines dock). In essence, people were riding the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was one of the first rides at Disney land, after the movie came out and were not seeing Captain Jack. Disney decided to determine if everyone wanted to see Captain Jack in the ride, and the results were overwhelming positive, so Jack has now become a mainstay in the Pirates ride at both Disney World and Disney Land.
**Written by Jason S. Wrench, reposted with permission
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Power of Words
“Sticks and stones may break my bones...AND WORDS WILL SURELY HURT ME!” In a recent ABWA program, Sandy Hernandez discussed how important our communication is, whether it is written or oral communication, its power is unmatched. She emphasized the importance of brevity and keeping your message short and clear in written communication. When making requests, specifically in business, she encouraged us to use facts to support our requests. Of course, well-written communication is always proofread, as the littlest errors will stand out to your audience and damage your image, as well as the likelihood that your request is granted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
