20 retirement decisions you need to make right now

by Ray E. LeVitre     (Get the Book)
You're in Control of Your Retirement Future Inside are twenty major financial decisions that could profoundly impact your lifestyle over the next forty years. For many retirees, these decisions come as a surprise and must be made hastily without proper consultation. But by reading the expert, commission-free advice in this fully revised and updated edition, you'll learn how to manage your assets and prepare for the bestpossible retirement. - Do I have enough money to retire now? - How will I cover my medical expenses during retirement? - When should I begin taking Social Security? - How much should I invest in stocks, bonds, and cash? - What criteria should I use to identify the best investments? - Should I cancel my life insurance policy? - Should I pay off my mortgage at retirement? (Publisher)

Maximum success with Linkedin : dominate your market, build a global brand, and create the career of your dreams

by Dan Sherman     (Get the Book)
Leverage the power of the world's largest professional network for all your business purposes Maximum Success with LinkedIn revolutionizes the way busy professionals use LinkedIn. It isn't just about professional networking and job-seeking; it's a step-by-step guide to answering any professional challenge by harnessing the potential of LinkedIn. It explains how to use LinkedIn to: Find customers, partners, investors, or advisors Hire qualified employees Build a personal brand to draw customers and recruiters Attract opportunities for more work, media exposure, lucrative partnerships Increase your network with thousands of contacts with one simple technique Find and land the perfect job Develop business relationships The book includes access to online resources for regular updates. Dan Sherman is a full-time LinkedIn consultant, trainer, and speaker, who works with companies and individuals to help them maximize the potential of the world's largest professional network. He has more than twenty years of corporate marketing management experience at successful firms, ranging from Silicon Valley Internet startups to Fortune 500 companies. (Publisher Summary)

The reckoning : financial accountability and the rise and fall of nations

by Jacob Soll   (Get the Book)
Good bookkeeping makes for good government-but not for very long-according to this absorbing history of accounting in the public sphere. Historian and MacArthur fellow Soll (The Information Master) surveys public financial record keeping after the invention of double-entry accounting in 13th-century Tuscany, a breakthrough that made systematic analysis of profit and loss possible. The benefits for well-ordered, responsible government were felt wherever this innovation was embraced: medieval Italian city-states, 17th-century Holland, and 18th-century Britain all became economic and geopolitical powerhouses, he argues, thanks to well-kept government books. But his is even more a story of backsliding and failure, as corruption, spendthrift government, and factional intrigues perennially undermine the discipline of meticulous public accounting-and the state. Soll's engaging narrative highlights both the political impact of accounting practices-a public audit of Louis XVI's woeful state finances helped spark the French Revolution-and the advent of a "culture of accountability" as the bourgeois business classes rose to power; he explores the deep-seated religious and philosophical power of balanced-books metaphors in the West, from the Gospel of Matthew to Thoreau's championing of the simple life. The result is a provocative, illuminating take on history that assigns humdrum accountants a central and dramatic role. --Publishers Weekly

Doing more with less : the new way to wealth

by Bruce Piasecki    (Get the Book)
"After the last set of business scandals and financial busts, many powerful interests and many influential people are asking questions about doing more with less, from governments to multinational corporations; they are seeking this realignment in hopes of regaining their balance. Doing More with Less is an actionable call to arms, with global insights--that are of immediate application to professionals in any industry--into new ways to better align money, people, and rules. Author, Bruce Piaceski, convincingly lays out the case for a return to frugality, providing relevant examples from his thirty years of experience as a management consultant and change agent. Piaceski deftly explains how this approach to competition is relevant, and provides readers with the framework to look at what's next without tottering toward failure"-- (Publisher)

Success as a real estate agent for dummies

by Dirk Zeller    (Get the Book)
Make your fortune in the real estate business? Easy. Whether you are looking to rev up your real estate business, deciding whether to specialize in commercial or residential real estate, or just interested in refining specific skills, Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies has it covered. This no-nonsense guide, with guidance from an industry expert, shows how you can become a successful real estate agent. It provides advice on acquiring the skills needed to excel and the respect and recognition you'll gain through making sales and generating profit. Soon you'll have all the tools you need to: prospect your way to listing and sales; build a referral-based clientele; plan and host a successful open house; present and close listing contracts; stake your competitive advantage; spend less time to earn more money; and much more. Features tips and tricks for working with buyers Includes must-haves for a successful real estate agents Offers tried-and-true tactics and fresh ideas for finding more prospects--and closing more deals Whether it's lead generation via blogging or social media channels, Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies gives you key ways to communicate and prospect in a new online world. (Publisher)

Capital in the twenty-first century

by Thomas Piketty     (Get the Book)
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again. A work of extraordinary ambition, originality, and rigor, Capital in the Twenty-First Century reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today. (Summary)

Invent it, sell it, bank it! : make your million-dollar idea into a reality

by Lori Greiner    (Get the Book)
Greiner's obsession with an idea for an earring organizer launched her into a long career as inventor and entrepreneur. With no background or education in business and none of the advantages of the Internet age, she now has more than 400 inventions to her credit, 15 years on QVC's Clever & Unique Creations, and her notoriety as the warm-blood shark on Shark Tank. Greiner has much to share with aspiring inventors. From her own early efforts, both failures and successes, she shares what she's learned along the way from concept to market shelf, including designing, patenting, manufacturing, pricing, and marketing. Greiner includes step-by-step instructions and checklists to identify the basic elements usefulness, uniqueness, safety, well-priced, desirable, and easily demonstrated of promising inventions. She includes advice on how to use social media and online surveys to do market research and the pros and cons of getting financing through friends, family, banks, crowd funding, or venture capitalists. Most fascinating are her behind-the-scenes looks at QVC and Shark Tank as she recalls the ups and downs of pitching ideas. --Booklist