THIS IS QUEENSBOROUGH
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EXPERT ADVICE
PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR ESTATE STRATEGY
The process of putting together an estate strategy may sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. The first steps are to identify where you are today and where you want to be.
Step 1: Where am I today? Make a list of everything you own. A financial advisor can help you group your assets and make beneficiary designations on your retirement accounts, insurance policies and annuities and make sure they’re up to date. Things to consider include investment and retirement accounts, real estate, insurance policies or annuity contracts, wills, health care directives, and trusts.
you. Don’t be intimidated, this is just a conversation to help you get started. Things to consider: • What do you want to leave to your heirs? • Do you want to leave money to charity? • Are efficiency and privacy important to you? • Are you concerned about estate taxes? • Do you have a minor child or a child with special needs? • Do you have specific wishes or desires you would like to ensure happen if you were incapacitated or passed away? • Who would you like to handle your affairs if you become unable to handle them for yourself?
Step 2: Where would I like to be? Identify your goals. A financial advisor can help you begin to answer these questions and prioritize what’s most important to
Step 3: Work with your team of professionals. An estate-strategy team provides a comprehensive and streamlined approach to developing a strategy
THE ‘PRIORITY’ IS YOU
BY SEGUN OLANIYI
We work to suit any and all schedules and budgets, and can Contacting a company to provide even accommodate traveling disstaffing or service should not really tances. Priority Groups focuses on be a headache, but it normally values, transparency and reliability. is owing to its many Values means cusrules, requirements tomer demands are and processes. met with respect, care Many people tend and fairness. Transto also think that getparency is to ensure ting these services that customers know rendered on a smaller exactly what is going scale for individual on. Reliability in use or for small busithis case ensures that nesses is impossible. everything is done as The truth is that these Segun Ezekiel Olaniyi promised. services can be ren- is managing director This small business of Priority Groups. dered to anybody. was started to give Going about proback to the commucuring these services should not nity. We wanted to create an easy be difficult, and it is this clarity way for small businesses to access and simplicity that Priority Groups cleaning services, meet staffing wants to offer. needs, and process billings. Priority Groups consists of PriWith Priority Groups, an indiority-Cleans, Quality Healthcare vidual or small business can easStaffing, Priority Billings and Pri- ily acquire services without the ority Cares. Each of these depart- requirements of many service and ments focuses on a specific task, staffing companies. Not only does but work in conjunction to deliver this benefit customers, but it also excellent service. creates jobs.
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that works for you. Each member of your team will have a different area of expertise. A financial advisor helps you understand the process, prioritize your goals and coordinates with the other members of your estatestrategy team. We can also discuss how your investment and estate strategies can work together. Your attorney reviews your estate options and drafts legal documents. Your tax professional or CPA
advises you on the tax implications of your strategies. Creating an estate strategy is a team effort Ask a financial advisor today about how you can work together to begin creating your personal estate strategy. For more information, contact Edward Jones financial advisor John Renda at (718) 969-2606 or at john.renda@edwardjones.com.
A PRODUCT NO ONE WANTS
Many people dream of starting their own business, but there are many challenges surrounding entrepreneurship. Arguably, a lack of consumer interest in the product or service may be the primary reason why many businesses never reach their full potential. Every new parent’s baby is the most adorable child they’ve ever seen, and entrepreneurs feel a similar way to their product or services. They think their company is the best idea to ever exist and that the market will respond accordingly. Often, however, entrepreneurs overestimate the potential success of their product, and they are left feeling discouraged when the revenue is not what they anticipated. I would attribute this to wishful thinking: you, as a consumer, think you know what other consumers want and exactly how they want to get it. Even worse, an entrepreneur might have their ego so invested in their “baby” that they become inflexible to growth and change, which makes success nearly impossible. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee your product or service will cause consumers to push the “buy” button. Although there are no simple answers, we would like to pass along a few suggestions to help you tackle this challenge.
can, before and after your product launch, and listen carefully. Success requires that you develop a product the consumer not only needs, but wants and desires. Social media can be a key tool for you to solicit criticism and advice on how you can improve your product. Utilizing social media will allow you to get direct feedback from your consumers.
Do Your Homework! Do not assume that you know what consumers want or need. Talk to as many people as you
Continue the conversation with Warren Law Group’s office at (866) 954-7687 or emailing Paul Share at paul@warren.law.
Master the Art of Pivoting A second key strategy is being willing to pivot. In start-up lingo, pivoting means taking in the initial response to a product, and making changes in order to maximize its consumer appeal. When launching a start-up, you will learn that everything takes longer than you expect, and a great deal of “stick-to-it-ivity” is required. With that said, there is no virtue in delaying product changes in the face of negative reactions from users. A good approach to designing a product is to develop a soft launch with the intent of redesigning it and adding features after receiving initial user feedback. If you read about the history of successful start-ups, such as Dell Computers and Twitter, you will see that they solicited criticism from their customers and used that information to modify their approach and attain success.
