Targeted marketing key to loyal customers
By Sarah Fischbach Consumerism gets a bad rap, particularly during the holiday shopping season, which has just drawn to a close. It is often defined as frivolous buying of products just for the purpose of buying. But consumerism does not have to be negative; it can be defined as an informed decision-making process in the Read More →
Self-driving cars: Disruptions on the road ahead
By Paul Witman Self-driving cars and trucks are making their way from the lab to city streets and highways. Projects from Google, Audi, Tesla and others have made considerable progress in enabling the “driver” just to tell the car where to go and the car does the rest. Uber, the taxi alternative, is testing these Read More →
Supervisor’s defense of SOAR misleading
By John Krist In her Dec. 2 commentary criticizing a Pacific Coast Business Times article about the effect of Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources on property values, Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks accurately but selectively quotes from Farm Bureau of Ventura County’s Land Use Policy. Her cherry-picking of a single passage from this five-page document Read More →
Lumps of coal for employers’ holiday stockings
By Jonathan Light There is great uncertainty about whether proposed federal wage and hour laws are going to be implemented in 2017, but there are plenty of other things to worry about on the employment law front in California. Regardless of the federal implementation, we won’t see much federal effect in California. Here are just Read More →
Navigating the land of Trump-portunities
By Mike Panesis Donald Trump is not my president. He is my country’s president, so we need to prepare for the next four years with him in charge. Most true entrepreneurs are constantly evaluating startup opportunities, especially during times of great change. President-elect Trump has issued an action plan for his first 100 days in Read More →
Harvesting your gains and staying on target
By John Corby One of the most important decisions confronting an investor is how much to allocate between the major asset classes: stocks, bonds, alternatives (which can include real estate and commodities) and cash. Certain asset classes have inherently higher levels of risk, so how much to assign to each will depend on the tolerance Read More →
Proposed rules have consequences for wealth transfers
By John Ambrecht The IRS is changing estate and gift tax rules, possibly as soon as this month. If you currently have or think you will eventually have a total net estate worth more than $5.5 million for an individual or $10.9 million for a married couple, your taxes to transfer any business interests or Read More →
