An important tool in any business community is the ability to connect with the people you need and the people who need you. One excellent way of accomplishing this is through organized networking events.

Seasonz Events’ “Spring Thing Business Card Exchange” networking event, held at the Astis Restaurant on West Oakland Park Boulevard last week, achieved just that. It brought together a number of business professionals from various national and professional backgrounds to feature their companies and businesses in an exchange that was sure to bear fruit.

According to Seasonz Events’ managing partner Omahar Stephenson, his company is about “grassroots marketing”. He said they have been having these events to help people to move away from the cliques that are sometimes prevalent in the South Florida communities and to get people to conduct business with other professionals. He said business people “need to stay in South Florida and do more business.”

Over the past 20 years Marshall Mortgage Services, Inc. has helped many customers to purchase or refinance their homes in a satisfactory manner. 

“Being comfortable with all aspects of your mortgage is a big part of enjoying your new home,” Rodney Marshall the founder of Marshall Mortgage Services says.  With so many mortgage programs to choose from, experience and product knowledge along with an intense desire for excellence in customer service and satisfaction will be the hallmark of a reputable mortgage company today. Their team of experts will help to evaluate a borrower’s situation and recommend the jost suitable mortgage program.  This allows the borrower to make an informed decision.

Washington Mutual (WaMu) announced recently it has redefined every consumer’s must-have product by introducing a new free checking product that combines an unprecedented bundle of features that all add up to convenience and value never before seen in any checking account.

The new product, WaMu Free Checking account, offers all the features of Washington Mutual’s original Free Checking account plus: free ATM cash withdrawals, a free overdraft or insufficient funds fee waiver each year, free checks for life, cash back for debit card use, free outbound wires, free low-balance alerts with online banking, Free ID Theft Services – and much more.

Washington Mutual, a leading bank for consumers and small businesses, boldly stated this new account will shake up the entire banking industry. “We changed the banking industry by bringing Free Checking to consumers and small businesses more than a decade ago,” said Kerry Killinger, Chairman and CEO, Washington Mutual. “After a period of resistance by jost banks, this product eventually became the standard offering around the country. 

Stay Diversified

The stock market is not a zero-sum game. There are not winners and losers in these markets, with the winners taking all the spoils and the losers going broke. Mr. Goldie says, "Capitalism generates positive returns overall, and, although some win more than others, everyone can win. The elegant truth of economics is that the return on capital is exactly equal to the cost of capital. In other words, in the aggregate, the return to investors is equal to the payment required of those entities, such as governments and corporations, seeking to attract investment capital."

Wealth is created when natural resources, labor, intellectual capital and financial capital combine to produce economic growth. As an investor, you are entitled to a share of that economic growth when your financial assets are invested in and used by the global economy. This is not a free lunch. It is your fair share of profits as compensation for putting your money to work.

The Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs hosted a multilateral conference in cooperation with the Center for Economic Policy Research in London and partnered with other Universities respectively in Singapore, Beijing and the Wharton Business School in Philadelphia entitled "The Top Ten Financial Risks to the Global Economy: A Dialogue of Critical Perspectives."  

The objective of the Conference was to evaluate ten major risks impacting global economic growth and security.  Those risks identified and debated on were: 1. The Dollar and the Twin Deficits 2. Environmental Accords 3. Geopolitical Conflicts 4. Globalization in Emerging Nations  5. Global Terrorism 6. Growth in China 7. Hedge Funds and Derivatives 8. Trade Liberalization  9. World Health Conditions 10. World Oil Supply. To those major risks, there should have been factor number 11. Small Business and Smaller Economies (lack of sense of urgency and due diligence). 

It is clear that SMEs (Small/Medium-sized Enterprises) are aware of the obstacles they are facing and their disappointment is legitimized by the accelerating rate with which free trade efforts are gaining ground globally and they continue to be disregarded.