MoneyCrashers | Michael R Lewis, ASJA

November 20, 2013January 3, 2024

What Men & Women shoppers Can Learn From Each Other

John Gray’s 1992 book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus confirmed what men and women have always known: The two sexes differ in their perspectives, motives, rationales, and actions. Even though the reason for the differences (nature or nurture) continues to be debated, study after study reflects similar results, and sophisticated companies have adapted their customer outreach programs to account for these differences. Everything from advertising style, message, and media, to product design, store layout, sales training, and customer service policies are designed to appeal specifically to both sexes.

The goal of every retailer is to:

Lure shoppers
Make them stay in the store longer
Influence their buying decisions
Turn them into return customers

Failure to address the idiosyncrasies of gender can have real financial consequence for retailers. In a New York Times article published on February 16, 2012, Eric Siegel, a consultant and chairman of the Predictive Analytics World conference, stated, “We’re living through a golden age of behavioral research. It’s amazing how much we can figure out about how people think now.”
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November 12, 2013January 3, 2024

How to Get the Job You Want – 3 Keys to Success

According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, one in five workers was dissatisfied with their current job in 2012. A Jobviate survey also taken in 2012 found that three out of every four workers are actively seeking new positions, suggesting that even those who may be satisfied in their current employment will move to a “better” job, given the opportunity. If you are currently looking for the next position in your career, you have a lot of competition.

An understanding of an employer’s mindset and how it affects their decision to hire one candidate, rather than another, is critical if you want to be successful in your search. Employers hire those candidates whom they believe will bring the most value to their company relative to their cost just as you select which car, computer, or phone model and make to purchase. The product that best fits your criteria of features at the lowest cost is the product you buy. Your challenge as a job seeker is to convince potential employers that you are a better fit and can deliver superior results as compared to the other candidates.

How to Prevent Identity Theft and Protect Your Personal Information

In 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that the National Security Agency conducted mass surveillance of its citizens by intercepting and monitoring Internet and phone traffic within and outside of the country’s borders. When challenged, government officials justified the collection on the basis of national security and ongoing threats of foreign terrorism within the U.S., believing these threats to be aided by both American citizens and foreign nationals within the country.

The disclosure ignited a debate between those advocating the need for the government to access such information and those who deem such acts a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment and an implied right to privacy. Whether the program is going be modified in the future remains uncertain.

The Risk of Identity Theft

The surveillance incident follows a growing concern for many about the possibility of their identity being stolen. Identity thieves have the potential to plunder bank accounts, run up credit card balances, and perpetrate malicious mischief on innocent people or in their names. According to a recent report based on data from the U.S. Department of Justice and Javelin Strategy and Research, about 11.5 million people are victims of identity fraud each year, with total financial losses of $21 billion. The personal stress and inconvenience suffered by victims is incalculable, to say nothing of the effort required to restore their good name and credit after the fact.

Income Inequality in America

Warren Buffett, number 2 on the Forbes 400 List of The Richest People In America, said, “There’s class warfare, all right – but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Certainly, the disparity between the wealthy minority and the rest of Americans has widened considerably over the past 40 years. In 1973, the top 1% of earners collected 7.7% of all U.S. income; by 2013, their share had grown by two and a half times to 19.3%. Even more astounding, the top 10% of earners collected almost half of the nation’s total income (48.2%), the greatest disparity between the rich and the rest of the American population since the Roaring Twenties.

That decade, following the close of World War I, ended in the worldwide Great Depression. It also saw curbs on immigration with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, the rise of radical political movements including communism and fascism, and the reemergence and national spread of the Ku Klux Klan.