Archive for September 2011
BERKO: How to create a portfolio for monthly dividends
Dear Mr. Berko:
We have an $83,000, 4.5 percent CD coming due. It was paying us a monthly income of $260. We have other CDs coming due later this year, as well as some utility …
Read MoreGUEST OPINION: Labor Day needs to be refocused
Could there be a more perfect symbol of what is wrong with the American economy than what took place on Sept. 5 in Detroit? A president of the United States whose regulatory excesses have stifled …
TRANSITIONS: Tagline, you’re not it
The Ames Tribune reported last week that the city of Ames has been advised to wad up its new tagline and throw it away. Not because somebody dreamed up something better or because it contained …
MCLELLAN: Bad news travels fast, so move faster to get ahead
If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you have a very rare company if you haven’t felt the sharp sting of bad publicity. We’re churning out “news” 24/7, and if there’s anything …
GITOMER: Find your golden ticket
Roald Dahl wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in 1964. You might have seen “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” the original movie starring Gene Wilder, or “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the darker version …
A CLOSER LOOK: David Brown
Tell me about your family.
My wife and I have two boys; they’re in fifth and third grade. They’re typical boys, you know; they love sports, to laugh and wrestle and all that kind of …
Read MoreThey serve with chain saws
When disasters strike, people of religious faith pitch in with prayer, cash and, sometimes, chain saws.
The Valley Church Chain Saw Disaster Relief Unit is based in Central Iowa and had its origins in a …
Read MoreQ&A – The business of reinsurance
To protect themselves against extraordinary losses, particularly natural catastrophes, insurance companies will spread their risk by purchasing reinsurance from other insurance companies. EMC Insurance Group Inc., which has provided reinsurance coverage to other property/casualty companies …
The Year of the ‘Cat’
Property/casualty insurers and their customers have been hammered by record-breaking catastrophe, or “cat,” losses the past few years, particularly in the first six months of 2011. Insurers sustained $27 billion in catastrophe-related losses in the …
Sales improvement co-author lands in Greater Des Moines
Marylou Tyler may be an engineer and computer programmer, but her gregarious nature has always led her to the sales side of business.
Tyler, who recently moved from San Francisco to Des Moines, met Aaron …
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