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Cheat Sheet Q & A-
Deeper dive on Kasasa checking accounts can you actually get a 3-4% interest checking account locally?:
Bottom Line: Today’s question comes from a listener who picked up on a story I covered yesterday regarding an innovative initiative by a financial services company, Kasasa. They work with various banks and credit unions around the country to provide interest checking account rates that can yield up to 4% (for complete information refer to yesterday’s Cheat Sheet).
The listener who asked today’s question did her diligence yesterday to try to find a financial institution that would work for her and provide the highest possible interest rate. In her findings there weren’t any
Is this Kasasa program ineffectual for
Below is a link to a participating
https://www.ffb1.com/applications/open-an-account.html?page=89432&type=page&id=89432&step=k_2591841
If you have a question or topic you’d like me to address email me: brianmudd@clearchannel.com
Time for house keeping – who are the beneficiaries of retirement accounts?:
Bottom Line: I don’t know why I thought of this yesterday but I did and it’s a question I want to pose to you for your review. Who is the designated beneficiary of your retirement accounts (especially if you don’t have an up to date will or trust)?
Many people designate a beneficiary at the time an investment account is opened. Often they never revisit. For example… Since you designated your beneficiary have you: married, divorced, remarried, have children, adopt, has a beneficiary pass away? Did you ever name beneficiaries to begin with?
As you’re going through your tax info and preparing for tax season it’s a good time to review all of your investment accounts and ensure you have properly updated your beneficiary information.
New #1 Brand in the
Bottom Line: It wasn’t by much. Just .1% actually but it did happen. Apple is no longer the top brand in the
Many are wondering if Apple has peaked and this is one more cog for those thinking that way. For the past three years Apple has topped the annual Harris brand perception survey of US consumers. It no longer does. Amazon.com has knocked off Apple for the top brand this year. So let’s take a look at the top 10 brands this year:
10. Costco
9. P&G
8. Sony
7. Whole Foods
6. Coca-Cola
5. J & J
4. Google
3. Disney
2. Apple
1. Amazon
Of note 9 of the 10 companies are American brands. That’s significant. What’s interesting is that the one foreign brand is Sony. It’s a bit surprising that if a foreign brand was to dent the list that it would still be Sony over perhaps a Samsung for example. In any event it is a new day led by Amazon.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/2013%20RQ%20Summary%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
Now for the annual list of top companies to work for this year. Fortune’s report is the most comprehensive each year. While the top company to work for is the same as last year there were several changes on the list and lots of variety at the top. First the top Florida Based companies (there were 5 in the top 100):
#77: Publix #76: Baptist Health
Now for the top ten:
10.
9. Ultimate Software
8. Edward Jones
7. Hilcorp Energy Company
6. Net App
5. Wegmans Food Markets
4. The
3.
2. SAS
1….. Google
For the complete list of 100 companies click the link below:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/
Revenge of the nerds – young growing army of hackers:
Bottom Line: I remember in school witnessing a couple of bullies picking on what the perceived to be a nerd. The “nerd” turned to the bullies and said “We’re the nerds who rule the world. One day I’ll be running a company and you’ll be coming to me wanting a job”. What a great line… Anyway times are changing.
It’s not to say that those who are picked on won’t become successful business people. It’s that some are turning to other methods to get back at those they don’t like. Hacking. We now have a new youngest busted hacker.
An eleven year old in
Comcast finishes what it started – and now the rest of the NBC story:
Bottom Line: Comcast realizes that the future of their company isn’t physical cable laid in the ground, routed into your house and plugged into a box. Within two years internet ready TV’s will be the norm. That makes content king. Companies that are simply portals to content are disposable at that point.
It was that vision that led Comcast to buy a 51% stake in NBC Universal nearly two years ago and to finish the offer, agreeing to buy the remaining 49% yesterday. Comcast it betting on owning and creating content for their future and that bodes well for those properties.
While Comcast is closer to the bottom of the customer satisfaction ratings among national companies, I know people on the TV side of the NBC business that speak highly of the Comcast ownership. Specially, I’ve been told that NBC was treated as that media company over there (so to speak) within the vast GE universe. Comcast is betting its future on the content creation of NBC. The result is greater attention to needs within the company. Greater investment into talent and development and a sense of purpose that wasn’t there previously.
