From the Editor's desk at Route 422 Business Advisor — Relevant news and information of interest to business owners and operators along the Route 422, Route 100 and Route 30 corridors in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Please visit www.422bizmag.com

Retirement Planning - Part Three Retirement Investing and Setbacks

Whether a person has many years until retirement or it is just around the corner; investing

for long term growth is essential. In an earlier article, it was mentioned that proper balance

between the basic asset classes - stocks (equity assets) and bonds (fixed income) - helps to

decrease market risk. Essentially, the higher the allocation to high quality bonds the lower the

market risk. In addition, diversification within those basic asset classes further decreases risk and

provides the best potential for above average returns.

5 Steps to Building a Retirement Income Plan

Modern thinking has taught us that, as the average life expectancy continues to climb (Could age 90 be the new 70?), our real concern should be more than a magic number for retirement savings. It should be creating a retirement income plan that ensures we will have income in retirement that lasts as long as we will.

By building a strong foundation of assets and implementing strategies first to grow them, then to protect and preserve them, you are setting yourself up for retirement income success. Here are some key steps that will help you get there.

How Digital Marketing Companies Fill in the Gaps and Help You Focus on Your Core Competency

The buzz around increasing organic traffic is sufficient to let everyone know why it’s important.

But are you aware that it plays a major role in the success of any business?

The entire SEO industry is built around organic search traffic to improve the organic ranking of the websites the SEO company has been entrusted. In fact, research shows that organic traffic represents more than 60% of the total traffic on any website.

Retirement Planning - Part Two - What savings vehicles are available to prepare for financial independence and retirement?

The amount of assets needed to sustain cash flow, as well as, where and how it is

invested must be carefully considered when planning for financial independence and retirement.

People with a plan tend to be more confident that they will be comfortable throughout retirement.

Saving and investing to provide for the future may be in the form of pre-tax payroll deductions

that grow tax-deferred, or after-tax contributions to tax-deferred or tax-free vehicles, or

contributions to a taxable account, or any combination of all of these vehicles.

Did you pay too much in taxes for 2017?

Problem: If you earned over $300,000 last year you probably paid way more in taxes than you should have!

Many professionals--doctors, dentists, lawyers--and small business owners often find they have spent so much time and effort developing their thriving practices and growing their profitable businesses that they just didn't have the time to plan for their own personal retirement situation.

Retiring Soon? Don't Make These 9 Mistakes

There is plenty you can do to avoid running out of money in retirement. Whether you are newly retired or retiring soon, planning is key. Some retirees just plunge in and get into trouble.

Mistake 1: Not planning for medical expenses

Retirement Planning – Part One -What amount of assets do you need to be financially independent enough to retire?

What amount of assets do you need to be financially independent enough to retire? A long time ago, the assumption or a starting point was that most people needed about 70 percent of pre-retirement income to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. The reality in my experience is that most people need 100 percent of pre-retirement income to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. It seems that even though there are a few financial obligations that disappear, such as, mortgages and paying for college, a few new obligations appear impacting financial security in retirement.

Over Organic Traffic from Search Engines or Purchased Traffic/Followers?

The New York Times recently ran a story about actors, athletes, politicians, TED speakers, comedians and so-called influencers who purchase followers for their Twitter accounts, and who use amplification bots to retweet their missives.

The Newsweek website was caught purchasing fraudulent traffic as well.

Why?

SEO & Social Media Trends to Look Out for in 2018!

Google has been known to roll out a few big changes throughout the year, each year.

While some updates are larger than the others, it’s worth keeping a track of and knowing what each update is about.

Merely responding to the changing SEO and social media trends is passé!

If you’d like to stay ahead of your competition and always have an edge over them, predicting how the face of SEO will look in the coming months is equally, or may be even more crucial than staying in line with the current trends.

Investment Management: Building Wealth

Sound investment management requires clearly defining your goals, knowing your risk tolerance and understanding various investment options. Building wealth requires patience and a strategy appropriate for your personal situation and objectives. Frequently, investors have a high-risk tolerance when the stock market is increasing and a low-risk tolerance when markets decline. Clearly, the best strategy is one that does well in good times and mitigates loss during market declines.

Change: Ability to Say What You Think II

In a stunning development Big Tech, which monitors every word posted on their site, now gives "hate speech” waivers. So, it is now okay to advocate death for the President of the Russian Federation. I believe that giving the so-called "hate speech" a waiver invalidates the entire theme of "hate speech” as we know it. The modified definition would condemn "hate speech” but allows it if Big Tech says it is okay.

Recognizing Spatial Separation Resulting in Racial Segregation

There is a spatial separation of minorities in Chester County. Minorities are not evenly distributed throughout the county. The information in this column is from a National Institute of Health (NIH) study which was published and later interpreted in a book by Massey and Denton in 1993. I gleaned the information from that book.

Three Tips for Better Video Conferencing: How to Look Like a Pro

Sitting in front of a webcam for hours a week is now normal (both for business meetings and personal calls, like virtually celebrating someone’s birthday). Making a good impression during a video call is important, which means figuring out how to appear presentable on your colleagues’ laptop screens, and learning the importance of camera angles, a good internet connection, and clear, understandable audio.

Want to master video conferencing? Here are our three tips to help you video call like the professional you are:

Change — The Isolation Blues

Life in America has changed for a while. Now we know how people encountering the black death (Plague) felt. When in school, we were all freaked out about learning about the Plague; the teacher said to us, "now it is not a problem we have antibiotics." Time is a cure-all, both in memory and in science.

Change in Habits

Change has hit the world. The Coronavirus has everyone in hiding. There has been a necessary change in the way we live our lives. All of the challenges and reactions around the virus are certainly dominating the news. The body counts, and the local effort will no doubt dominate the headlines for the near future, as no sports, no concerts or entertainment events will be happening.

Recognizing a Cyberattack: Save Your Data by Looking for These Signs

It may not have hit the headlines like the Coronavirus or election season, but the United Nations recently suffered a major security breach. A vulnerability in their system — caused by a failure to patch a known problem! — was exploited by hackers to hit a variety of targets world-wide. What does the fact that the UN is lagging behind on necessary cybersecurity precautions mean for the rest of us?

The Gold Whistle Award

In August of 1963 I entered the Freshman Class at Lock Haven State College to pursue a degree in Health and Physical Education. At Freshman orientation, we were made aware of a prestigious award that was presented each year to the outstanding Male and Female graduating Physical Education Major. This award was based on academic achievement, participation in sports, clubs and extracurricular activities and finally a vote of faculty members and the other PE Majors. It was like the Academy Awards of Physical Education and a lofty goal to culminate four years of a College Education.

Lead Like a GOOSE

There have to be thousands of resources out there on the topic of Leadership. I have accumulated a library of my own and have used them frequently over my 50 years of being in business. However, about 15 years ago my wife and I were browsing through an antique store and I found an old picture frame with a picture of a gaggle of geese flying in formation. Under the picture was an interesting story about why geese fly in formation and I couldn’t help not to see a correlation between their story and a very important, but sometimes overlooked, role of a great leader — Sharing Responsibility.

A Few “Take Homes” After 50 Years in Business

If someone had of asked me 50 years ago, “Why are you going into business for yourself and what do you expect to get out of it?”, I probably would have responded, “ Because I want to be my own boss and I want to control my future.” Fifty years later, I can honestly say, my journey was far more than being my own boss, and the future turned out totally different than I expected. Actually, What I have learned about myself and, what the real meaning of being a “boss” was, totally changed my life.

Change in the Way Americans Interpret the Past

Change is random. One might say that one random event leads to another. Recently something happened that gave me pause, as the Philadelphia Flyers removed the statue of Kate Smith as part of an effort to respond to people outraged that she sang a song in 1931 which had racist lyrics.