Insurance For You

Weekend Favs June Twelve

June 10th, 2010

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr.

Image credit: pamramsey

Good stuff I found this week

GetListed.org – tools and resources to help you get listed higher for local search in Google, Bing and Yahoo

Minify – WordPress plugin that helps minimize css and javascript files that slow your blog from loading. Googl

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Tags: Weekend, Weekend Favs

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Identity Theft Crime

June 6th, 2010

Have you heard about identity theft crime yet? Are you prepared for it? Yes, I know most people will groan inwardly saying, “Oh heck, I’m not living under a rock, buddy!” At the same time, you may be surprised that 7 out of 10 people today have their computers hacked, have their identity stolen, or are victims of some or other identity theft crime.

How does this happen, when you say you are aware of it? Aren’t you taking measures against it?

This happens because you let your guard down, safe in the knowledge that you know about the dangers. What ha

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Tags: Crime, Identity Theft, Identity Theft Crime, Theft Crime

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Shorting China: Sino cure

May 26th, 2010

BEING bearish on China may not turn out to be wise, but it does require some ingenuity. Shorting domestic stocks is illegal. Futures and options markets for equities either do not exist locally or barely trade. It is possible to buy credit-default swaps (CDSs), a form of insurance against default, on China’s sovereign debt, but few think that would really go belly-up anyway. A pair of widely circulated reports on how to hedge a downturn, written in April by Goldman Sachs (stamped “highly confidential”) and Morgan Stanley respectively, spell out some of the alternatives for investors. In ea

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Tags: China, China Sino

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5 Questions That Will Change How You View Your Business

May 20th, 2010

As we go through the days, weeks and months running a business it’s pretty easy to lose sight of the underlying reasons that make owning a business such a fulfilling experience.

Between the phone ringing, the network going down, and the shipment arriving late there’s the tiniest gap that we must stay connected to in order to build a business that serves our lives while providing a place for customers and staff to experience something remarkable.

I find that the following questions help me reconnect with that gap when it gets a little hard to see, feel, and hear.

1) Why are we doing this?

I wrote about doing work that serves a higher purpose last week and I think this is the question that helps stay connected to the greater reason for doing what you do. Thi

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Tags: Business

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Europe’s government-bond markets: That sinking feeling

May 17th, 2010

WHEN Europe’s finance ministers emerged in the early hours of May 10th to announce a €750 billion ($950 billion) rescue of the embattled euro zone, some joked that they had thrown everything at the problem “including the kitchen sink”. It turns out there are a few more implements left to hurl.

Germany this week announced a ban on the naked short-selling of euro-area government bonds and shares of some financial firms, and on the buying of sovereign credit-default swaps by investors who have not also bought the underlying bonds. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, gave warning that the euro is at risk as she defended the ban. If German

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