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Get the Most Money for Your Personal Injury Settlement or Reward

ABC Staff
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Get the Most Money for Your Personal Injury Settlement or Reward

You’ve been so badly injured in an accident that you’re unable to enjoy your life the way you used to. The injuries you’ve sustained are significant and they have cost you a lot both financially and emotionally. Though it can be hard to put a price tag on the quality of someone’s life, when you’ve been wrongfully hurt, seeking financial compensation can make getting through the other changes a lot easier. If you’ve recently filed a personal injury claim or have been injured in an accident and want to be compensated heavily for it, you should take heed to this advice.

Hire an Attorney

No need in sugar coating things, if you’re going to get a fair shake with your insurance claim, settlement, or lawsuit you’re going to need the backing of a legal professional. Experts like Steve Schwartzapfel are well-versed in personal injury law and work around the clock to help their clients get compensated. They can talk with insurance adjusters, other attorneys, and the negligent parties on your behalf to ensure you get what is rightfully yours.

Write Down Everything

With each passing day, the details of the accident can become a bit blurrier for you. In order to get compensated adequately, you must report every detail as it happens. When you’re able, it is important to record everything. Whether it’s what was said at the scene of the accident, witness information, how you felt, names of authorities, camera sightings, etc., no detail is too small in terms of its potential significance later down the line.

Keep a Journal

Outside of recording information, you remember about the accident, it is also important to keep a journal. One of the things you could get paid for in a settlement or lawsuit is pain and suffering. As you’re feeling uncomfortable and unable to enjoy life the same, this can all equate to a payout. Keeping a journal of how you’re feeling when you’re in pain, and how your life has changed, can help increase the offer and can also be very therapeutic.

Inform Your Doctor of All Problems

Immediately following the accident, seeking medical treatment is a must. However, not all accident injuries or complications will manifest in a few hours. Some can take days to realize. Other complications could also come as a result of medications or treatments you’re receiving. Therefore, it is important to inform your doctor of everything that’s going on with you. If you reported back pain but a week later your neck is hurting, report this. If you’re taking medication and it causes you to throw up, tell your doctor.

Listen to Your Doctor

Medical records are a huge factor in determining offer amounts in personal injury claims. If you want to get the most money possible, you’ll need to follow your doctor’s orders to the letter. If they advise you to take physical therapy, for example, don’t argue, just go. If you have to take medications that you don’t particularly like, suck it up and take them. The point is, you don’t want your doctor to report that you’re not following their orders. This could be perceived that you’re doing better, not in as much pain as you claim, or that you’re prolonging your need for medical care which can ruin your claim.

Keep Records of Employment Excuses

Another thing you could be compensated for during a personal injury case is lost wages. You’ll need to prove that your injuries have resulted in your inability to work. This will include turning over medical records and letters from your doctor to your employer explaining your injuries and length of time you’ll be out of work.

Take Photos

Pictures tell things that people won’t or don’t remember. Immediately following the accident, get as many pictures of the scene and your injuries as possible. This can help both parties to see the extent of your injuries and determine what you should be compensated for. It can also work to counteract any false claims against you.

Your life was forever changed by this accident and you deserve justice. Filing a personal injury claim is the first step in getting restitution. Keep in mind, however, this process can be long and getting your offer can take awhile. With the help of a legal expert on your side, however, you’re sure to get the highest payout the law allows.

Saving Money and the Environment – Eco Driving Tips for the Modern Age

ABC Staff
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Saving Money and the Environment – Eco Driving Tips for the Modern Age

In the future, it’s increasingly likely that cars will boast incredibly Eco-friendly attributes. This is because the leading automotive brands will take the lead in this respect, while the UK government has also pledged to outlaw the sale of petrol and diesel cars by the year 2040.

In the meantime, however, there’s an onus on individual drivers and motorists to reduce their carbon footprint while out on the road, both in terms of the vehicles that they invest in and the way in which they operate them.

We’ll explore this in further detail below, while offering some specific tips on how to become an Eco-friendly driver.

Choose the Right Type of Car

Not all cars are created equal, with each one offering a variable fuel source and capable of producing a fixed number of miles to the gallon. In this respect, you choice of car is crucial, particularly if you’re serious about having a more positive impact on the environment.

With this in mind, we’d recommend choosing a hybrid or electric vehicle in the current climate, prioritising models based on their advertised fuel economy. In excess of two million electric vehicles have already been sold across the globe, and this number will increase markedly in the near-term.

If you do choose a hybrid model, we’d also recommend that you purchase an automatic car rather than one with a manual transmission. This negates the needs for manual gear shifts, minimising fuel consumption and creating a more efficient drive in the process.

Affordable, automatic models such as the Ford Focus are available through resources such as Motor Point, and these represent an excellent choice in 2018.

Adopt an Eco-friendly Driving Technique

While investing in automatic cars helps you to create an Eco-friendly driving technique, there are other steps that you can take to achieve this aim.

Accelerating and breaking gently represents a relevant case in point, as does maintaining a steady speed wherever possible. This requires to anticipate traffic and avoid delays where you can, as well as adapting the timing your journeys to capitalise on less-busy periods.

This also means refraining from travelling at high speeds, even when you have a stretch of open road in front of you. Sure, this requires a sense of discipline, but there are tangible rewards in terms of cost and fuel savings.

Refrain from Driving Where Possible

Sometimes, the most simplistic solutions offer the best possible value when looking to tackle complex issues.

The same principle can be applied here, as Eco-friendly drivers are often motorists who spend as little time as possible out on the open road.

This requires commitment and a significant shift in mindset, as you strive to walk where possible and take public transport where circumstances allow. The latter method can be extremely beneficial when commuting to work, for example, reducing your individual carbon footprint without necessarily compromising on your productivity.

Walking during warmer weather periods and over short distances are also extremely achievable measures, while they have a cumulative impact on your costs and the impact that your decisions have on the natural environment.

Getting Covered – Understanding the Vagaries of Professional Car Insurance

ABC Staff
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Getting Covered – Understanding the Vagaries of Professional Car Insurance

Few businesses or commercial models have come under as much fire as Uber in recent times, with nations from Bulgaria to Australia having moved to restrict the company’s operations.

Much of this has to do with Uber’s vague categorisation as a business, as it’s hard to determine whether it’s a tech venture or a private hire taxi firm. This leads onto other issues concerning the payment of its drivers, while representatives have also suffered at the hands of vague insurance coverage.

In the post below, we’ll explore this in further detail, while asking how businesses and drivers alike can avoid the pitfalls of commercial and professional car insurance.

Learning Lessons from Uber – Why Clarity is Key

While Uber and Lyft drivers may well think that they’re covered if they get into an accident, recent evidence suggests that this may not be entirely true.

The issue here is confusion surrounding the extent of coverage, as while representatives claim that coverage begins when the app is turned on, further investigating reveals that the effectiveness of insurance depends on what phase of the ride you’re in.

If there is a passenger in your car, for example, the full company policy will apply and provide coverage in excess of £1 million. If you’re searching for your customer or have just dropped off a passenger, you find that you’re only covered by a limited policy.

This means that you’ll need commercial insurance to plug this gap, and ensure that you’re comprehensively covered at all times while out on the open road.

Gap Insurance – Protecting your Company Vehicles at all Times

This issue underlines the importance of clarity when dealing with insurance, as employers and their drivers must collaborate to ensure the most comprehensive level of coverage possible.

This will involve a number of variable insurance products, including so-called GAP insurance. This refers to the actual difference between the value of an individual car and the balance owed on any financing repayments, and it will financially plug this void in the event of an accident or collision.

On a similar note, commercial firms may also want to take out extended warranties on their vehicles. This works particularly well with high value vehicles, as an advanced BMW warranty could help to protect against various faults that are rarely covered as part of standard policies.

This may be particularly effective when dealing with second hand cars, as this type of vehicle will typically be more likely to experience electrical or mechanical failings on a more frequent basis.

The Last Word

With these types of insurance product and a willingness to work closely with your employees, you can create comprehensive coverage across a diverse range of policies.

This removes the vagaries surrounding commercial vehicle insurance, while also protecting any investment that you’ve made in your cars, products or drivers.

The Biggest Challenges for Start-ups – And how to Overcome Them

ABC Staff
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The Biggest Challenges for Start-ups – And how to Overcome Them

It’s incredible to think that 96% of businesses will have ceased to trade after 10 years, but there’s no doubt that this highlights the challenges facing firms in the modern age.

While many of these challenges will be specific to certain industries and businesses, however, there are others that are universally applicable across all markets and models.

We’ll focus on some of these below, while asking how your business should strive to overcome them. For example:

A Lack of Working Capital and Inflated Operational Costs

Let’s start with the basics, as businesses in almost any sector can struggle to optimise their level of working capital. This can make it hard for them to fulfil their operational costs, particularly during their formative stages of development when they’re striving to establishing themselves.

For product-oriented firms, this usually manifests itself in two ways. They may struggle to open lines of credit that enable them to procure the requisite goods or materials from suppliers, for example, or they find it difficult to package and ship their goods cost-effectively. Both may be true in some instances, of course, and these issues can undermine even the best business ideas.

While the former can be countered through trade finance (which requires you to secure funds against the value of a purchase order), you can reduce potential shipment costs by working with established couriers. This can help to streamline your delivery networks and make shipments more efficient, while targeting a larger audience.

Either way, the key is to create a lean and agile business model that can respond to such challenges, while seeking out new and innovative solutions to age-old issues.

Extended Payment Terms for Clients

For businesses that deliver professional services, similar issues can occur in the form of invoice payments.

More specifically, once clients have been invoiced for completed work, they may be required to pay according to 30, 60 or 90-day payment terms, depending on the precise terms of your arrangement. his can create significant challenges, particularly in terms of cash-flow and the completion of future work.

One potential solution to this is invoice financing, which enables your business to effectively sell its accounts receivable to third party investors. This means that you’ll receive the value of your invoice immediately, before simply repaying the amount once the client has settled their bill.

This is a flexible and fluid way of funding your businesses growth, while it’s one that can make a significant difference to small and medium-sized firms.

Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

Both of these factors can be a challenge for new businesses, as firms without an establish reputation can find it hard to recruit new talent while also struggling to keep ambitious employees happy without the requisite growth.

To ensure that you attract the top talent in the first place, you’ll need to create an attractive package that balances a competitive salary with additional benefits. In the current economic climate, we’d recommend offering practical benefits that reduce your employees’ cost of living, such as discounted gym memberships and generous pension contributions.

Beyond this, you should also create a defined business culture, which can be leveraged to successfully engage specific personality types.

On a final note, you must be sure to offer the potential for career growth to your employees, so that they are incentivised to work diligently and commit to a relatively long period of employment.

3 Stockbroking Stats and What you Can Learn from Them

ABC Staff
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3 Stockbroking Stats and What you Can Learn from Them

While some may suggest that the practice of stockbroking has been devalued in the digital age, this is largely a misconception.

After all, the demand for brokering services remains largely today than ever before, with stockbroking firms having simply diversified and shifted their focus increasingly online in recent times. Not only this, but reputable wealth management firms like WH Ireland have also moved to completely restructure their bonus pools to improve efficiencies and industry perception, paying brokers out of record profits rather than turnover.

With a fascinating history and an even more intriguing future, stockbroking is also responsible for some truly staggering facts and stories. Here are some of the most striking and a look at what we can learn from them.

Attention to Detail is Critical

WH Ireland and firms of this type offer clients access to a huge range of assets in the modern age, and this is reflective of the fact that we’ve seen a significant rise in the number of derivatives available to investors in recent times.

Not all of these assets have been created equal, of course, which is why attention to detail and understanding are such key attributes when trading the modern financial markets.

This was borne out by an infamous incident in 2005, when an inexperienced trader at a Japanese bank tried to sell 1 share of high profile J-Com stock for 640,000 yen. However, he accidentally sold 640,000 shares for 1 Yen each, which represented the equivalent of selling $3 billion worth of stock for the price of $5,000.

While the sheer magnitude of this error is unusual, it underlines the importance of focus as a stockbroker and the need for investors to comprehend the detail of each market that they choose to operate in.

Small, Future Changes can have a Big Impact on Stock Value

Stocks can experience peaks and troughs, and this is why spread betting (which enables investors to trade shares without assuming ownership and potentially profit in a depreciating market) has become so popular in recent times.

However you choose to invest in company shares, it’s important that you understand the performance of the businesses that they belong to and recognise their potential for future growth. This will may enable you to capture stocks that have fallen in value but are capable of significant growth in the future.

Take Domino’s Pizza, for example, who saw their stock plummet to record lows in 2009. By revitalising the brand and making progressive changes to its pizza recipes, however, the firm rebounded and saw its stock grow by an incredible 233% in just 12 months.

Stockbroking Remains a Potentially Lucrative Career Option

History is full of people who’ve made considerable sums of money through stockbroking and financial trading, but few embody the potential in this market quite like Japanese day trader Takashi Kotegawa.

Having started out as a raw, 21-year old, Kotegawa entered the stock market with $13,600 to his name, before commencing a high volume trading strategy that sought to profit from volatility in the market.

Incredibly, he turned his starting capital into a staggering $156 million in just eight years, while reportedly consuming a diet of ramen noodles in order to avoid hefty meals and remain alert!

This highlights just how lucrative a career in stockbroking can be, particularly if you’re dedicated, knowledgeable and capable of applying determinism when implementing your strategy.

Housing Market Review

ABC Staff
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Housing Market Review

The housing market had a difficult start to the year, with the first quarter showing price declines across the UK of 0.7% according to data from Halifax the UK’s largest mortgage lender. This is not surprising since data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that new buyer enquiries fell again in March, continuing a trend that has been going on for 11 straight months now.

The disappointing first-quarter performance comes despite Chancellor Philip Hammond’s best efforts to breathe new life into the housing market by slashing stamp duty to zero for first-time buyers on homes that cost less than £300,000 and reducing rates for those that cost up to £500,000.

Not all regions suffer declines

Not all regions suffered declines however, and there was some regional divergence across the UK with parts of Wales, Northern Ireland, the North West and the Midlands all seeing property prices increase. It was London and the South East that took the brunt of the pain with property prices in parts of East Anglia and the North East also seeing prices fall as the effects of the Bank of England’s November interest rate rise start to take hold.

Affordability is the deciding factor here, and areas where house prices are more affordable, such as parts of Wales and the North West are seeing the market hold up pretty well, while areas such as the South East, where house price earnings are stretched, are seeing weakness across the board.

£1m-plus homes toughest to sell

Price also plays a factor. Homes priced above £1 million remained the most difficult to sell in the first half of the year. Agents surveyed by the RICS said that 67% of homes priced in this bracket achieved a sale price less than the asking price, with the figure falling to 56% for homes priced in the £500,000 to £1 million bracket.

The problem is more acute in homes that cost more than £2 million, with agents reporting that asking prices have been reduced by an average of £260,000 for homes in the £2 million-plus bracket. This is partly due to stamp duty changes which increased to 12% for properties costing more than £1.5 million for a first home and 15% for a second home.


New builds provide a welcome respite

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. The number of new homes registered to be built during the 2017/18 financial year reached 154,698, the second highest number in more than a decade. The number is a slight decrease on the 157,805 new starts registered during 2016/17, but the decline is largely down to adverse weather conditions which struck most of the UK during the early part of 2018.

The increase in new housing developments will be welcomed by the government which has ambitious plans to build 300,000 new homes across the country by 2021. Government initiatives to stimulate new builds include simplifying the planning process, the creation of a £3 billion home building fund and an extra £1.4 billion for affordable housing. These initiatives alone should help keep the new build market buoyant for the foreseeable future.

Outlook going forward

While the start of the year was challenging, the performance of the market stabilised during the second quarter with Halifax reporting that house prices were up by around 0.2% across the UK. But once again there were regional variations with parts of London and the South East still seeing prices fall due to weak demand.

New buyer enquiries also stabilised during the three months to June, with data from RICS showing that the number of new buyer enquiries in April remained steady, arresting four straight months of decline. This is a sure sign that the worst is over and prices should start to strengthen going forward.

With employment at record levels and real earnings starting to rise, there is reason to believe that the second half of the year will provide more sustainable growth. The Bank of England has also promised to keep interest rates low, despite the recent rise, which should see mortgages remain at manageable levels giving buyers the confidence to go out and buy.

Why it’s easier than ever to eat well on a tight budget

ABC Staff
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Why it’s easier than ever to eat well on a tight budget

We are constantly inundated with warnings about the importance of eating healthily, and rightly so. As well as reducing our risk of chronic diseases and helping us control our weight, eating the right foods also improves our mental wellbeing.

Yet despite these facts, over three quarters of young people are put off by the perceived cost of eating healthily, according to a study by insurers Aviva. The common perception is that people who eat healthily (or follow plant-based diets) have an expensive lifestyle, which worryingly discourages many from adopting a healthy diet themselves. Despite the figures, this view is somewhat unfounded. It’s actually easier than ever to consume healthier food without breaking the bank. Here is why eating well on a budget keeps getting easier.

There are more budget healthy options than ever

The last decade has been characterised by the rise of budget supermarkets, and discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl now have a larger market share than Waitrose. It’s therefore easier than ever to buy reasonably-priced food. Those unwilling to do their food shopping at these stores have no excuse though, particularly if they are looking for healthy ingredients, as nearly every supermarket has own-brand budget products that are substantially cheaper than branded alternatives.

The food retail landscape has changed considerably in recent years, and it’s not just supermarkets that are offering real value on healthy food. A marked rise in the number of independent retailers across the country is giving consumers even more choice. The OFM Awards 2017 for Best Independent Retailer featured stores from all corners of the country, so there is almost definitely somewhere near most people, and many sell their produce online anyway. Look at the winner of the award for a shining example. Rafi’s Spicebox was launched in 1989 and specialises in selling Indian food boxes consumers can order to their front door. Substantially cheaper and healthier than most Indian takeaways, this type of retailer shows just how much choice consumers have.

The diversification of the food scene has led to some truly unique and innovative companies. Take the Aylesbury-based startup Huel, who sell nutritionally-complete powdered food. Making £14 million a year, the company have seen stunning success since their launch in 2014. Huel produce a product perfect for those who need a healthy meal on the go. All you need to do is add water to their powder. Those who eat Huel get the best of both worlds, with meals all-in-all working out at just £1.33 each.

There is more guidance than ever before

The internet is now flooded with publications outlining ways you can eat healthily and affordably. Thrifty Lesley, for example, specialises in £1 meals, like Beef Ragu, Green Tomato Curry and Salted Cashew Couscous. As well as providing recipes, the site gives great money-saving culinary advice. This includes what you can do with leftovers and 7-day meal plans. The site is frequently listed as one of the best budget eating blogs to follow and deservedly boasts a huge online following.

Frugal Feeding is another healthy eating blog that has gained mass support. Launched by Nick Livermore whilst he was at university, Frugal Feeding is “a food blog about eating good, well-sourced food as economically as possible.” The blog has outlined an array of healthy but low-cost recipes, such as One-Pot Mushroom Stew, Brown Butter Cod and Chickpea Fritters, and Garlic Prawns with Chilli. With recipes indexed into different categories, like World Cuisine, Broths, and Italian, the blog is easy to navigate, and it is no surprise the site is so popular.

Considering there are more healthy budget food options and greater help to eat healthily and cheaply, it is easier than ever to eat well on a shoestring. Nobody should be put off trying a healthy diet for financial reasons.  

How the stores of the future could dethrone online shopping

Elliot
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How the stores of the future could dethrone online shopping

When is the last time you had a truly enjoyable online shopping experience? Sure, you may look forward to the eventual arrival of whatever it is you purchased, but did you really enjoy the act of shopping itself? At its core, this is why the retail stores of the future have every chance of making a comeback.

UK high street footfall is falling year-on-year as online shopping continues to thrive. But while e-commerce appears to have reached its zenith with same-day delivery, offline retail has countless new avenues to explore.

RFID technology is making stores more interactive

The key advantage the offline world has on e-commerce is the potential for interactivity. So it makes sense that the stores of the future will run with this to get customers to leave their houses and head back to the high street.

One of the most revolutionary ways futuristic stores are embracing interactivity is through getting creative with RFID tags. As Retail Asset Solutions, formerly OCS Retail Support, explain,   have been used in the past to alert store security to shoplifting. These are the tags that trigger alarms when you leave a shop if the cashier forgets to remove them (or if you are in fact stealing).

But many brands have been tapping into RFID’s hidden potential to up the interactive quotient of their in-store experience. Mastercard, for example, has developed a new “smart mirror”, which it plans to roll out to clothing retailers. The touchscreen mirrors will read information encoded in garments’ RFID tags to recognise each item and add them to a virtual basket, allowing customers to buy them from the comfort of the changing rooms.

RFID can also create interactive store displays, allowing appealing images or bespoke bargains to follow shoppers as they move around stores. This can be achieved in a similar way to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home’s ‘#LookingForYou’ campaign, which had pets follow those who had picked up brochures through billboards placed around a shopping centre.

Mobile PoS are cutting down on queues

With same-day delivery becoming more and more widespread, online retail is encroaching on two of the high street’s historic advantages: speed and convenience. While you may have more choice online, and it doesn’t involve travelling to the nearest shops, the high street has historically been the only place you can get what you need as soon as physically possible.

Now that is not the case, high street shops are doing everything they can to claw back the advantage. One method is through mobile points of service (PoS in industry speak). By giving floor staff card readers, shops can enable customers to make purchases wherever they are, without having to queue up at all. Apple stores have pioneered this, with many completely eschewing traditional cashier points. But some stores have taken it even further. None other than Amazon, an online retailer, has launched a chain of stores that have no PoS—mobile or stationary. Shoppers can walk out of Amazon Go stores with a bag full of items without having to stop to pay. Using a secretive technological system (which may well involve RFID), the payment will be taken from the customer’s Amazon account automatically.

Click and collect could unite on- and offline shopping

Though high streets may be suffering, there’s one area of offline retail that is still performing relatively well: retail parks. Retail parks’ resilience is largely thought to be down to ‘click and collect’ schemes, which allow shoppers to reserve products online to pick up later that day. The stores of the future are unlikely to ignore e-commerce entirely.

It’s more likely that a hybrid approach that embraces click and collect services will be the best method of competing with e-commerce heavyweights like Amazon. These online giants themselves seem to think so, as Amazon’s previously mentioned offline stores make clear.

With all of these innovations, it’s clear the stores of the future have a fighting chance to dethrone online shopping. There’s more good news for these stores, too. Even though e-commerce is on the rise, it’s not predicted to overtake offline commerce until 2024. That gives the high street several years to regain lost ground.

There’s no way a platform would publish this link, it’s a 404 error. At the moment, we can only link to the “coming soon” homepage.

Here I’d just use Retail Asset Solutions as a branded link, but keep the rest the same – who’s to say we didn’t contact them to discuss RFID tags.

Great idea.

How Companies Decide to Price their Products

Elliot
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How Companies Decide to Price their Products

Pricing is one of the most important factors of marketing that appears to be easily understandable, but is more than likely one of the hardest things to understand. Most people think it is easy because we use prices every single day of our lives whenever we purchase a product or service, and they probably think that in order to make a profit, all you need to do is sell a product for more than it costs. The real way to create an effective pricing strategy is by maintaining a brand image of a product that is almost impossible to copy.

What the market will bear

If you happen to be in a market where there is close to no competition, companies are able to implement a pricing strategy that raises their profits. Many people choose to call this the What The Market Will Bear Price. This means that the price is set to withhold the maximum amount that consumers will pay for the product without getting to the point where people stop buying it. The company, obviously, wants to earn as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time, this is a given, similar to people who choose to invest in stock and shares or funds, they will need to do their fund research, but they will want to make sure that they are earning as much as they possibly can in the smallest amount of time possible.

Although, it doesn’t want to make its profits to be so good that other companies want a slice of the action and decide to entice cutthroat competition to enter the market and try to establish a leadership position. This strategy is statistically quite likely to work as the innovators and early adopters that buy these items are not likely to be price sensitive. If your product is unique, use a WTMWB strategy, if not, consider the effective pricing strategies.

Know Your Customer

It is imperative that you do some market research as it is important to get to know your customer base. Research can take the form of informal surveys of your existing customers sent out via e-mail or more expensive research done by third party consulting firms. Market research firms can explore you market and segment your possible consumers granularly. If you don’t have the budget to pay for market research firms, you may just look at a few distinct groups then figure out which segment you’re targeting and price accordingly.

Know Where the Market Is Headed

Obviously you are not a fortune-teller, but you are able to discover outside factors that will influence the demand for your product or service in the near future. These issues can span from something as simple as long-term weather patterns to laws that could impact future sales of your products. You can use tools such as retail price tracker to make sure your prices are where they should be. Also remember take into account your competitors and their activities. Will a competitor respond to your introduction of a new product on the market by engaging your business in a price war?

If you end up asking people to pay way too much for your product or service, they will stop buying; ask for too small an amount for your product or service and your profit margin weakens or customers assume your product is poor quality. An optimum price factors in all your costs and maximises your margins while remaining attractive to customers.

Buying a second home in the US: Which state is the best?

ABC Staff
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Buying a second home in the US: Which state is the best?

The beautiful States in the US

America is a splendid country with diverse landscape, culture, people, and lifestyles. There is something for everyone. A lot of folks feel attracted to urban life while others prefer the quiet existence of the suburbs. Every State has its unique features which ranges from rivers, valleys, mountains, to both natural and man-made designs. No matter your individual inclination, there is a State in the U.S. that fits perfectly. Real Estate is not just limited to American residents. Foreigners can purchase properties and make investments too. However, if you come from outside the U.S., you might be required to possess a visa. Those from visa-waiver countries will find ESTA information (Electronic System for Travel Authorization info) on how to make the trip fast and convenient. A second home is bought for different reasons. Maybe to lease it for rent or refurbish and sell at a higher price thereby making profit.

Points to consider

Nevertheless, anyone looking at securing real estate in the U.S. will have to examine a few factors:

You will need money. If you already have a first home, some banks will require a greater amount of down payment the second time around. This can be as high as 30% of the house value. You might be asked if you plan on selling your first home at some point. The requirements for approval of a second house mortgage can as well include seeing proof of a signficant financial reserve. These conditions are not usually recommended for first time home owners.

Your debt should be low. A second home increases your debts. So, lenders want to be certain you are not already consumed with outstanding credit bills.

You need more money each month. It is no rocket science to realise your monthly bills will increase significantly with two homes unlike if you had only one.

Difficulty in finding buyers and renters. It is remotely possible your plans may not work out exactly as anticipated. The buyers and renters may fail to come at due time or even not at all.

Entire process might take more energy and time. Real estate in some cases is like a job or career.  It is not always as easy as it seems at first. Every new house owner must be generous with time and resources to care for the new property.

Best State for a second home

Factors that influence second home choices are individual preferences, lifestyle, career, future prospects, and availability of money.

Montana. The Yellowstone National Park is so large it reaches many States. Montana is one of them. The Park is one of the most stunning works of nature. It consists of luxuriant vegetation, spectacular rivers, and canyons. You can find amazing wildlife like antelopes, bears, and wolves. The Yellowstone National Park covers an area of about 3,500 square miles. There is definitely a lot to do and see in this breathtaking natural reserve. The presence of this awesome park puts Montana among the Top 10 most visited places in the United States. However, the attractions are not only limited to the park. This incredible State is popular for its awe-inspiring blue skies and immaculate landscapes. For lovers of history and those up for adventure, Lewis and Clark Trail offer a lot of activities and a possibility to see nature at its best while enjoying an amazing scenery. From the top of the Rocky Mountains and the Glacier National Park, you can enjoy astounding views of the landscape and surrounding areas. The Glacier National Park has peaks covered in white. The Triple Divide Pass has an abundance of wildlife and present a different perspective of the wonders of gorgeous Montana.

Enjoy every bit of Montana

Montana is a family friendly State. There are lots of things to do together. The tracks are perfect for family hike and road trips. Awesome memories can be made by exploring the dinosaur trail with children, hop on the rocks across a lake, and go on a hike to the glacier. There are yet further activities to keep your loved ones occupied round the clock. You can watch wildlife, go for water recreation, children museums, outdoor adventures, and in the cold seasons, there is winter family fun. Although Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks are stunning beyond words, there is yet more to Montana. Some of the other scenario to anticipate encompasses bears, bison, gorgeous waterfalls, rainbow-like streams, picturesque mountains and valleys. Road trips can be along the following regions the Glacier and Yellowstone, Missouri River, and Southwest Montana. Road trips can as well be based on areas of interest. For example, there is the National Geographic’s 10 ultimate trips, outside magazine’s six adventure trips, weekend getaways, day trips, and ski trips. Going for walks in the ghost towns will give the impression you are back in time. At night, the sky is bright enough and perfect for stargazing. Hot springs are ultimate relaxation spots for everyone.

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