Archive By Section - Business Columns
So, you need income?
You have worked hard all your life to accumulate a pool of retirement assets. Now, or at some time in the near future, you will want to turn all or a portion of that pool of assets into a stream of income that will last as long as you live. It won't be easy with the ups and downs of the economy, which is normal, but currently we have to be more concerned for the additional problems caused with our energy costs and the financial markets fiasco.
New developments in capital gain, property taxes and other benefits
Editor's Note: The Friday business columns known as Business Law will now be known as It's the Law. Capital gain relief for widows and widowers
Does your business have a prospecting plan?
I read with interest an article on the front page of The Signal on Monday. Several local business owners were interviewed and quoted about declining sales revenue, a reduction in customer buying and the impact of increasing costs on their businesses.
How to recession-proof your life
It seems that every time we turn on the news these days we hear an endless litany of big corporations that are closing their doors, thousands of workers being laid off across the country, more jobs being outsourced and everybody losing money (unless you're in oil). The unemployment figures that politicians spout as going down, is only going down because laid-off workers are falling off the unemployment list after using up their 26 weeks. But ...
Components of a basic living trust package
In previous articles, I have discussed the advantages of using living trusts as an estate planning tool. It is extremely important that your estate plan is drafted only after a personal consultation with an attorney so that the plan can be customized according to your specific situation and desires.
Now marks time to ramp up marketing efforts
It would be nice to believe that every organization is a proponent of continuous marketing (which means marketing in both strong and slowing economies), but not everyone has done so. Many of the organizations that did not market when times were good are now suffering. Others that should know better are becoming nervous as the bad news of the economy is reported and so these firms are cutting back on marketing and other expenditures. When ...
Cross my palm with debit cards
Cross my palm with debit cards - not silver! While the financial gurus are wringing their hands over the rise in credit card debt, consumers are going their merry way with their debit cards. The use of debit cards has increased more than 50 percent in just seven years, and banks see profit in the trend. They're cranking up the frequent flier and other rewards to encourage debit card use.
Who will care for your children if something happens to you?
If you and your spouse pass away leaving minor children, have you selected someone to serve as their guardian? Have you chosen someone to manage their finances?
Only 21 days to a superior organization
Day one: Make sure your organization has tests and yardsticks to measure performance. Are you measuring the most important things or just things you have always measured?
Work your sales process to succeed
Everyone would agree that a structured sales method is needed for maximum efficiency, yet we all know of companies that ignore this fact. Without a set of steps or structure, sales are lost or ineffective so the process in use has to be assessed.
The perfect storm
I recently attended an investment seminar and received the following information which is taken from a paper written about personal finance by two professors of finance and insurance, David Babbel and Craig
Liabilities and the HOA board member
The Los Angeles Times recently ran an article that suggested personal liability against a Home Owner Association ("HOA") board member for giving legal advice without having a license to practice law and various blogs are now available for homeowners to ask for help and/or criticize their board members.
Thought-provoking questions for top executives
What is your organization's overall vision? Where are you going to be in three to five years?
Decision flow in a buy-sell transaction
Both the buyer and seller have the same question in mind: What is this business worth? This is where information becomes king! You can never have too much information when making a decision like buying or selling your small business. Most people see the worth of a business as the total value of equipment and fixtures, inventory, buildings and land. These are definitely important, but the sum of these values does not equal the value ...
How does divorce impact business owners?
Many business owners understand that if they divorce their spouses, they may have some liability to pay spousal support. But did you know that you also may have to buy your spouse out of your business?
Articles by Section - Business Columns
Ken Keller: Here are ten mistakes that business owners make
A former leader of a large Fortune 500 company was quoted in an interview that "People who do things make mistakes. The biggest mistake is doing nothing."
Ken Keller: Front line makes bottom line
Once a month, like clockwork, a gentleman comes to my house in the early morning and sprays for insects and bugs. We've spoken a few times and he always hands me his card, telling me to let him know if he needs to come back between visits. I think I have called him once in the last decade.
Bob Khalsa: Rising prices lift sinking homeowners
Local home resale prices last month hit the highest level in five years, with each leap up in prices rescuing legions of underwater owners, in effect, throwing them a life preserver and pulling them to dry land.
Ken Keller: Lessons learned in college apply to business
Thirty-six years ago this month I graduated from college. I didn't study a major that paid immediate dividends, meaning a job, and I wasn't ready for graduate school.
Ken Keller: Permission to argue is granted
Peggy Noonan wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal on April 20 about her attendance at Margaret Thatcher's London funeral service. She commented that Mrs. Thatcher was often frustrated with her staff. Thatcher once said to her aides, "I don't need to be told what, I need to be told how."
Bob Khalsa: Statewide median home price at five-year high
Heated market conditions fueled by a tight inventory and strong sales in higher-cost coastal regions drove California's median home price in March to its highest level since May 2008. Local prices, right here in the Santa Clarita Valley are headed higher, too.
Ken Keller: How one company turned it around
This week I'd like to introduce a company in a far different place compared to just a year ago. The organization has gone from despair to celebrating success. At the end of the first quarter of 2013, the owner said his company had "…Increased sales, reduced costs and improved our overall financial position in terms of positive cash flow and profitability, as well as reduced debt."
Steven Tannehill: What do businesses want, anyway?
This is part two of a two-part column.
Bob Khalsa: Feds ease loan modification rules
Some homeowners who are still struggling to avoid foreclosure may soon benefit from streamlined rules that offer an easy way to lower monthly payments and modify their mortgage without requiring financial or hardship documentation.
Ken Keller: Here are the vitamins a leader must distribute
Looking back on those individuals who were my bosses, a clear distinction comes to mind.
Holly Schroeder: New homes benefit more than just buyers and builder
The only people who benefit when a house is built are the family members who get to live there, and the builder who constructed and sold the home, right?
Steven Tannehill: What do businesses want anyway? Part I
This column is part one of a two-part column.
Ken Keller: Lessons to be learned from lack of feedback
In 1970 I started my first official job. I worked nine hours a week at a small grocery store. For the next two years I grossed $11.25 a week.
Bob Khalsa: Prices, sales rise as SCV’s housing market continues its recovery
The residential housing resale market in the Santa Clarita Valley continued to recover during February, with sales and prices up to their highest levels in years.
Ken Keller: Getting crystal clear about your business
There is a terrific exchange in the courtroom drama "A Few Good Men." Colonel Jessup, played by Jack Nicolson, turns from being a witness in a court martial to being the prosecutor when he asks Lieutenant Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise: "Have you ever spent time in an infantry unit, son?"
