COVERING YOUR ASSets is not a guide on how to accumulate assets. It is written specifically for people who have already accumulated assets, or are on their way to doing so, and wish to preserve and protect those assets. It is written in a unique format that will allow you to isolate your specific life situation and read only material applicable to you. You will learn about what the Wealth Planning process should actually entail, the Thirteen Wealth Management Issues (twelve of which that are ignored by many Financial Planners), the synergy that should come from the integration of these oft-ignored issues, and how to properly build a Wealth Planning Team. Twenty-seven complex strategies and techniques are explained in simple terms and presented in such a way that they can be easily understood by any layman. COVERING YOUR ASSets is an informative, enjoyable and easy to read guide for anyone wishing to Preserve and Protect what they have accumulated.

Children are not born with any particular knowledge or skills, therefore everything they need to know about how to survive in the real world they have to either learn at school or from you, their parents. Sadly, children don't learn vital financial lessons in school; therefore it's up to you to teach them not just how to scrape by in life, but how to thrive

The Family Bank is a full home financial system, which will not only teach your children how to use a checking account, credit cards and loans; but how to: build a resume, prepare for a job interview, succeed at work on a daily basis, budget, and how to avoid getting into debt over their heads. Even what to do to get out of financial trouble if they do fall down that hole. The Family Bank will also teach your kids how credit works in our society and how to maximize their credit scores, in order to take advantage of all the benefits that come with "good credit."

The true beauty of The Family Bank though, is not the volumes of information it will help you to teach your kids; it's the elegantly simple way it does it. The Family Bank is a simple, yet thorough and complete outline of everything you need to know in order to create an actual "Family Bank" in your home; where your children will be your bank members. To develop a "Family Bank" on your own would take you years, but who has the time? With The Family Bank and a few minutes of your time each week, your children will enter the real world armed with the knowledge they need in order to be financially successful, stable adults. Let's get started...

The decision to enlarge the European Union by ten (eventually thirteen) countries has surprisingly not been accompanied by much discussion of the implications for Social Europe. This has led to criticisms that enlargement is a purely economic process that will sweep aside important social considerations: * Will the much lower labour costs and social standards in the applicant countries - especially those from Central and Eastern Europe - lead to 'unfair' competition or 'social dumping'? * Will this process in turn encourage current EU member-states to run-down their own social provisions in order to be able to compete with the newcomers? * Do the specific features of this new accession wave - the largest enlargement so far and including markedly less-developed countries - threaten the global survival of the so-called 'European Social Model'? * What policies should be implemented in order to avoid a weakening of current European social standards? These are the main questions this book attempts to answer, on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of the social policy areas most relevant to EU enlargement - wages, working conditions, social protection, employment, industrial relations - while also addressing its most sensitive 'social dumping' aspects: capital relocation, labour migration, and redirection of trade. EU enlargement is higher than ever on the policy agenda and scholars and researchers of European Studies and social policy will find this book an invaluable reference.

This book represents a major innovation in the institutional analysis of cities and their planning, management and governance. Using concepts of transaction costs and property rights, the work shows systematically how urban order evolves as individuals co-operate in cities for mutual gain. Five kinds of urban order are examined, arising as co-operating individuals seek to reduce the costs of transacting with each other. These are organisational order (combinations of property rights), institutional order (rules and sanctions), proprietary order (fragmentation of property rights), spatial order and public domain order. Property Rights, Planning and Markets also offers an institutional interpretation of urban planning and management that challenges both the view that planning inevitably conflicts with freedom of contract and the view that its function is a means of correcting market failures. Real life examples from countries and regions around the world are used to illustrate the universal relevance of theoretical generalisations, which will be welcomed by a new generation of policymakers and students who take on a world view that goes beyond national boundaries.

The book discusses the failure of many African governments in providing the social needs of the masses, thereby placing the citizenry on the desperate quest for economic resources. Unfortunately, in many African States, mineral resources are owned, explored and marketed by the machinery of the state. The problem arises when the masses begin to challenge state access and ownership of resources that are domiciled within their ancestral land, communities, and constituencies. Often the challenge and resistance to state ownership of resources is generated by communal or group sense of exploitation, negligence and widespread poverty in the face of high resource endowment and waste by the government officials.  Paradoxically, in Niger Delta of Nigeria, as discussed in the book, the state has unleashed unlimited might upon all social groups and agitators, thereby leading to the increased act of taking arms by such groups. When the informal resource agitators succeed in arming themselves, they begin to demand social and environmental justice, thereby leading to mass armed conflict between them and the government security agencies. Sometimes, the confrontation could be between them and other rival local resource actors in the informal sector of their country’s economy bearing in mind that the resources within their jurisdiction have become the central determinant of national commonwealth.   It is at that state of desperado to control access, extraction and sale of natural resources in a State, by different armed groups that the process of natural resources extraction qualifies as the most visible cause of conflicts and crises around the African continent that is the centrepiece of the book. This is quite understandable given that mineral resource is a gift of nature; and nature is that phenomenon that every human, group and nation claim to represent, or, believe to represent them.

In A Theory of Environmental Leadership, Mark Manolopoulos draws on his original model of leading outlined in his cutting-edge book Following Reason to derive and develop the first properly systematic model of eco-leadership. Suppose humanity's relation with the Earth may be described in terms of leadership "stages" or modalities: once upon a time, the Earth led or ruled humanity, and now we humans rule or lead the Earth. When the Earth led, the Earth flourished; now that humankind leads, the Earth flounders - ecological crises multiply and intensify. However, there might be a third stage or modality of leadership: humanity leading for the Earth, leading in a way that allows the world, including humans, to re-flourish. What would be the nature of this truly environmental form of leadership? A Theory of Environmental Leadership identifies and critically analyzes the two basic and incompatible positions associated with the way we construe and interact with the non-human: anthropocentrism (human supremacism) and ecocentrism (ecological egalitarianism). By rigorously analyzing and leveraging this polarity, this book outlines an innovative theory of eco-leadership together with some of its confronting-but-necessary measures. Expansive and incredibly timely, A Theory of Environmental Leadership is ideal for a range of audiences, from scholars and students of environmental leadership studies to activists and policymakers. The book's remarkable clarity and engaging character also makes it suitable for the general public.

The vast sums of money generated by sport worldwide have meant that the laws of economic competition, as well as sporting competition, have an important role to play in the organisation and regulation of the industry.This book offers a comparative perspective on the economics of sport and highlights both the similarities and differences in the North American and European models of sport. It tackles policy issues, such as the organising, financing and regulation of team sports alongside theoretical issues regarding income redistribution and competitive balance. It also evaluates the impact of sport and sports events on local communities and the wider economy providing a useful contrast of methods and results on the two continents. Transatlantic Sport will be of great interest to sports economists but will also be of wider interest to scholars of competition and economics in general.

Global economic scenarios are increasing in complexity due to the recent global financial crisis, globalization, the evolution of ICT, and the changing behaviors of consumers. This has made it difficult to predict trends and build strategies within the retail industry. As a result, long-term forecasts and schedules are not possible, and more research is needed to explore today's consumer profile and set the frameworks for future recovery strategies. Predicting Trends and Building Strategies for Consumer Engagement in Retail Environments is a pivotal reference source that provides practical insights into improving the understanding of complex retail environments and consumer shopping behaviors in order to predict trends and develop strategies for retailers in times of economic crisis. While highlighting topics such as consumer engagement, industry models, and market globalization, this publication explores qualitative and quantitative methods of interest and the multidisciplinary approaches revolving around the industry. This book is ideally designed for marketers, managers, practitioners, retail professionals, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on relationship marketing, digital marketing, service management, and complexity theories.

"An inspiring and practical guide to really effective people-communication in a modern business climate crying out for it"

Mike Harris - Founding CEO of first direct and Egg Banking plc, founding Executive Chairman at Garlick and ex CEO of Mercury Communications

"This book puts the heart and soul back into business. Miti Ampoma combines her deep experience with fresh insight and inspirational thinking in a communications masterclass that focuses us all on our most valuable asset, at the heart of everything we do - our people."

Mike Symes - Chief Executive, Financial Marketing Limited

"Miti Ampoma, with pincer-sharp clarity, explains brilliantly the relationship between becoming an innovative communicator and having a successful business. She whets our appetite to go do "

Anne Newton - Chief Executive, Richmond Chamber of Commerce

"Articulate and incisively written with compelling stories and practical ways for us to achieve better communication skills so our businesses excel."

Daniel Priestley - Author, Become A Key Person Of Influence

Every business needs an Innovative Communicator

- Are you craving relief from pin numbers, passwords and soulless voice-activated messages?

- Is communication with people in your workplace an uphill struggle in spite of all you have tried?

- Do you fear that the heart and soul of your business is evaporating?

- Is all this impacting staff morale and bottom line profits?

Good human communication is more important than ever in a business world where technology and process have come to dominate at the expense of bringing out the best in people. Work colleagues respect and respond well to clear, honest communication they can trust. At the heart of that communication there needs to be a genuine focus on integrity and humanity.

You may think good communication is best left to the experts, but nothing could be further from the truth.

This book introduces the Innovative Communicator, who puts the soul and heart back into business communication to deliver happy staff, happy customers and more profits. The Innovative Communicator is able to build deep relationships, get their team on board, plan powerful communication strategies, whilst courageously pushing their own boundaries, having the capacity for great empathy and the skills to get tough with heart when necessary.

Start becoming an Innovative Communicator today.

See and feel the difference

The design of infrastructure policies is a controversial issue in the transition economies of Eastern Europe, where the dismal state of infrastructure was widely regarded to be one of the major obstacles to economic recovery and sustained growth. With the imminent enlargement of the EU, Christian von Hirschhausen provides a detailed, reflective analysis of the state of infrastructure development in Eastern Europe. The author illustrates the different approaches to modernizing infrastructure and the successes that have been achieved in terms of fiscal relief, private investment and increased efficiency. Based upon a comparative institutional analysis and extensive field research and case studies, he provides empirical evidence from different sectors (power, gas, railways, roads, R&D), with particular emphasis on countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltics and Russia. Given the substantial institutional instability of the early years of transition, the author promotes a gradual but time-consistent approach to liberalization as a more promising path towards a market economy and increased efficiency. The author offers sound policy recommendations on how best to achieve the successful modernization of East European infrastructure in the course of EU-enlargement. This book will be indispensable to all researchers and academics of European integration and transition economics, policymakers in the EU, and institutions such as development banks which are active in the restructuring process in Eastern Europe and EU-enlargement.

Food security can be defined as the perceived availability of a high-quality, domestically-produced staple food supply which will maintain the existing standard of living. This book provides a forum for a panel of distinguished authors to debate such issues as whether or not many developed countries in Asia - such as Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Singapore - have legitimate concerns about their food security. They find, controversially, that this issue is of importance to all countries, not just to developing countries lacking the income to acquire an adequate food supply. The authors analyse the forces affecting the demand for, and supply of, staples such as rice, vegetable oils and protein meals. Rice is the most important staple in Asia and so the authors pay particular attention to the effects of rice production strategies and trade policies on food security. They examine the implications of trade liberalisation in the ASEAN free trade area and in East Asia on agricultural trade and food security. They also discuss the implications of China's ongoing economic transition on its intra-provincial and international agricultural trade, and its policy on self-sufficiency. Food Security in Asia provides a timely evaluation of the food security issue which will be of interest to scholars of Asian studies, agricultural economics and international economics.

Around half the world's population live in countries where the fertility rate is far below the replacement rate and where life expectancy is increasing dramatically. Using Singapore as a case study, Social Policy in an Ageing Society explores what might happen in a dynamic and prosperous society when falling births, longer life expectancy and rising expectations put disproportionate pressure on scarce resources that have alternative uses. David Reisman investigates the challenges facing Singapore, where a rapidly rising median age and the growing pressure of the elderly upon medical attention are threatening to disrupt the economic and even the political status quo. The dependency of the old upon the young is becoming a financial and an emotional burden. Health care is swelling in quantity and price. Voluntary and compulsory savings are being used up. New demands for pensions and subsidies are challenging the national ideology of family network and self-reliance. Despite a wealth of prospective problems, the author argues that viable solutions can be found. Discretionary savings can increase. Reverse mortgages can monetise owner-occupied property. A higher participation rate can give the elderly the opportunity to earn a living for themselves. This book concludes that public policy must play its part in facilitating these solutions. It must ensure that the old retain their dignity. The old should not lie where they fall. This comprehensive, intelligible and highly original cross-disciplinary study will appeal to a wide-ranging audience. Readers will include academics, researchers and students with an interest in health economics, the economics of development, social policy and administration, public policy and the socio-economic aspects of medicine.

The world is currently witnessing a change in the business paradigm in which economic, social, and environmental variables are taken into account. In this sense, sustainable companies focus on the development of a profitability formula that, through the connection with stakeholders and the natural environment, operates in harmony with social and economic progress. In this sense, the concept of corporate sustainability refers to the attempt by companies to balance social, economic, and environmental objectives. It requires a strong orientation towards the future as well as an awareness of the need to preserve the existence and well-being of the human species. In this way, companies seek to ensure long-term business success while contributing to the economic, social, and environmental development of the territories in which they operate. Corporate Sustainability as a Tool for Improving Economic, Social, and Environmental Performance provides a guide for study, reflection, and critique to understand corporate sustainability while offering the basis for comprehending this phenomenon in different sectors of the economy. The book also sheds light on the new currents and challenges of the discipline. Covering key topics such as big data, ethical business, and strategic management, this premier reference source is ideal for business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, government officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, instructors, and students.

I've been selling online for fifteen years now. During that time I've learned a lot about bookkeeping, business permits, and taxes. During that same time I have saved thousands of dollars in taxes by saving my receipts and keeping good records. And, so here's the deal...> Did you know eBay has an app that can automatically import all of your sales, fees, and other information and crunch the numbers to show whether you're making a profit or loss? > Did you know that same app will also import all of your information from Etsy and Amazon, if you sell on those platforms? > What would you say if I told you that you could save $500 or more on your taxes every year just by writing down the mileage when you head to the post office, store, or bank? > And, you'd probably think I'd lost my marbles if I told you that you could deduct parts of your next vacation from your taxes. The advice in this little book can easily save you thousands of dollars every year.