Author: Betty Perez

The Full Range of Services Offered by Professional Financial and Tax Advisors

Posted on by Betty Perez

Managing your finances and taxes on your own can be a daunting task, especially for those who have little experience or knowledge in the field. This is where professional financial and tax advisors come in. These experts offer a wide range of services to help you achieve your financial goals and stay on top of your taxes. In this blog post, we will dive deeper into the full range of services provided by financial and tax advisors and how it can benefit you.

Financial Planning: The key to achieving financial wellbeing is to plan ahead. A financial advisor can provide you with customized advice on the best ways to save and invest your money based on your unique financial situation and goals. They can help you create a budget, set up investment accounts, monitor your portfolio’s performance, and adjust your investment strategy as needed. Moreover, they can provide guidance on retirement savings, college savings plans, and wealth transfer strategies.

Tax Planning and Preparation: Tax season can be a stressful time, but working with a tax advisor can make the process much smoother. A tax advisor can provide assistance in organizing your financial documents, calculating tax liabilities, and filing tax returns. Additionally, they can help you identify tax-saving opportunities, such as deductions and credits that you may be eligible for, and provide guidance on strategies to reduce your tax bill.

Estate Planning: Estate planning involves developing a plan for how your assets will be distributed after your death. A financial advisor can offer guidance on setting up wills and trusts, minimizing estate taxes, appointing guardians for children, and designating executors. Furthermore, they can help you keep your estate plan up to date as your family dynamics or financial situation changes.

Insurance Planning: Insurance is an essential component of any financial plan. A financial advisor can help you assess your insurance needs and identify the types of insurance policies that best suit your goals and budget. They can guide you through the process of selecting policies that provide adequate coverage for life, health, home, and auto, and help you find the best insurance providers and rates.

These are just some of the many services provided by financial and tax advisors. Working with a professional can save you time, money, and stress, and provide you with confidence that your financial future is secure. By partnering with a financial advisor, you can ensure that your investment and tax strategies are designed to help you meet long-term financial goals and weather unexpected life events. So, if you’re ready to start achieving your financial dreams, consider seeking out a professional financial and tax advisor today.

Best Ways to Keep Your Office Space Organized

Posted on by Betty Perez

Denver office space

Are you tired of not being able to anything among the hundreds of papers and accessories that dot your office? Of feeling that you no longer have room to put a post-it with an action that you have to do? Of not being able to answer the phone because the wire can hardly overcome the mountain of folders and, in the process of doing your best to put the receiver to your ear after all, you happen to spill the coffee?

If all these things bother you and you want to have a cleaner and better organized office, it is very possible that all the following tips will help you in this endeavor. Do not forget that keeping your Denver office space organized will have positive effects on your professional activity and you will also contribute better to the company’s productivity.

In order to have a well-organized office, you must first identify the sources of clutter. These are numerous and include:

  • The old papers with which you still do not know what to do: to archive them or throw them away. They usually sit on the shelves, take up a lot of space and gather dust. In order to prevent the situation from getting worse, at least once a month go through all of them and sort them out.
  • Too many things of the same type, which do the same thing, such as: diaries, notebooks, pens, product catalogs, etc. Likewise, regular sorting and storing only the important ones is the key.
  • Too many cables and jacks, chargers and USB’s, etc. Some of them are from devices that you may not even use for years, but you keep them because … “you never know”. A desk drawer for the really useful ones would be a great way to remove them from sight.
  • Lack of storage spaces to match your needs. In an office, one inevitably works with lots of papers constantly and simultaneously, which must be organized according to emergencies and age: unresolved papers, resolved papers that must be kept, papers that can be thrown away etc. A few new folders, and sticker labels will solve the problem of archiving.

How to keep your office well-organized

  1. Simple shelves

Shelves can be the cheapest solution for arranging the space above or around the office. The length and height of the shelves depends on how much space you have. This vertical organization solution is ideal for small spaces, but you will still have to keep it in order, because everything you expose on the shelves will be very visible.

  1. Closed cabinets

They are probably the best organizing solution.  You simply put behind closed doors everything you do not want to see or touch daily. A closed cabinet is the place for unwanted clumps of papers, ugly stuff and strange things that do not fit the desk, trophies and old collections etc.

  1. Clean, beautiful and tidy

Clean the office 10 minutes daily. They say that for every minute spent tidying up, an hour is earned.

Remember that what you keep in your office defines you and consequently contributes to the image of the company you work for. That is why everything should be as tidy and organized as possible, and a vase with fresh flowers can really cheer you up and those who visit you.

 

How to Choose the Right Litigation Attorney for Your Case

Posted on by Betty Perez

Just like a visit to the dentist, litigation is often a “necessary evil.” It takes time, it affects your business, it interrupts your personal life … So, you have to find someone who can help you, Choosing the right Denver civil attorney for your case is very important because this professional gives you the legal advice you need and represents you, every step of the way.

Despite stereotypes, lawyers are as diverse as any group of people. Each lawyer has a different approach, level of knowledge and experience. In this context, how can you determine who is the best attorney for you?

While there are no guarantees (and if a lawyer tells you otherwise, you should start looking for another one!), here are some questions you can ask a potential Denver civil attorney you want to work with, to determine the compatibility between you.

Denver civil attorney

Question 1: Why should I hire you?

You need a lawyer that you feel comfortable talking to, who has the necessary knowledge and skills to represent your best interests. Although lawyers approach this challenge in many different ways, in general, it all comes down to one thing: to help you solve the problem in the most efficient way, in terms of time and cost. This is especially true in litigations, where the emotional cost often exceeds the financial cost.

Question 2: How good – from a legal point of view – is my case, and what are its weaknesses?

This is probably the most obvious and important question to ask an attorney. It is what you want to know more than anything else, with the possible exception of Question 3. This is an opportunity to find out exactly what your attorney believes about the case.

Question 3: How much will it cost?

When deciding to open a contentious case, it is important to decide whether it makes economic sense to fight to the end, or limit the losses that you already suffered. In other words, if you have a $50,000 litigation, you need to know if it will cost you $5,000, $20,000 or $40,000 to resolve it.

In a contentious matter, attorneys might not be able to provide definite information on costs, except for the legal costs that are already established by law. But your attorney can still estimate the billing rate, as well as the duration of the procedure. This information will give you a pretty good idea and help you make an informed decision on how to proceed. If your attorney doesn`t seems willing to give you an estimate of time or budget, find someone else who can do it.

Question 4: How much experience do you have and how many cases like mine have you dealt with?

You need to feel confident that your attorney has the necessary skills and legal knowledge to effectively represent your cause. A litigation attorney should be able to make you feel their ability to work effectively on your care. Therefore, do not be shy to ask information about your attorney`s experience in the field in which your litigation will take place.

 

Why Do You Need a Power Bi Consultant?

Posted on by Betty Perez

Microsoft Power Bi Consulting

Power BI is the business intelligence service provided by Microsoft, a cloud-based analytical tool available on Microsoft’s Power Platform. Often compared to Excel (though entirely different in approach as well as in terms of the features and interfaces available), the Power BI tool provides lots of great and useful capabilities, including data warehousing and the option to create and publish spectacular charts and the dashboard is considered to be intuitive and easy to use, but even so, a Power BI consultant can help you in many ways, at least in the beginning, when you have just started using the service and you need to work your way through set-ups and features. Here is how your consultant will be able to assist you.

First of All, What Does a Power BI Consultant Do?

A Power BI consultant is a person who has extensive knowledge and an in-depth understanding of business intelligence services in general and Power BI and the associated services in particular. The role of Power BI consultant is look at your business data, to analyze the data and to provide weekly, monthly, semi-annual or annual reports while also providing suggestions that you can use to improve your business success.

What Can a Power BI Consultant Do for Your Business?

One of the most important tasks of a Power BI consultant is to collect all the data relevant for the analysis and to store all that data in an easily retrievable way. Business data can be stored in many places on your servers and using many different sources and formats, including SQL, API, JSON or CSV. Your consultant will make sure that the sources that are compatible with Microsoft Power BI are connected directly and also that the sources that are not compatible get treated the right way to ensure compatibility.

Your Microsoft Power Bi Consulting professional will also help you select the services that you need. The Power BI ecosystem consists of a wide range of components, including a desktop application, an online, software as service product, mobile apps, an embedded API to build dashboards and reports, a server service for companies who cannot or would not use cloud-based applications as well as a marketplace for custom visual components. While some companies might need all these services, most firms need a customized selection of the available components – a task that Microsoft Power Bi Consulting services can handle efficiently.

Another task for BI consultants is to take your business data and to provide a meaningful synthesis of the data in the form of easy to understand and attractive charts. Your Power BI consultant will also help you publish curated and approved reports that will automatically refresh existing reports in your system and will make sure that your reports are shared with other concerned parties within your organization.

Handling the dashboard and the user interface is another task that your Power BI consultant can help you. Your specialist can make sure that your dashboard is displayed flawlessly on mobile devices as well, that you can easily switch between vertical and horizontal viewing.

 

Tips To Make Understanding Medicare Easier

Posted on by Betty Perez

Medicare Advantage Denver

Most people working as employees do not give their medical insurance too much thought until retirement, they just accept the plans provided by their employers. However, around retirement or when approaching the age of 65, most people are faced with important decisions related to their Medicare coverage – decisions that might feel overwhelming. The Medicare system is notoriously difficult to understand, which means that the best selection of plans and components can only be made after some serious research and after achieving a thorough understanding of the terms used in the related materials. To make the process easier for you, here are some tips from Medicare Advantage Denver experts.

Eligibility Conditions

The first thing to understand and a very important aspect is eligibility. Medicare is available for anyone aged 65, including not only citizens, but also people who have been legal residents in the USA for at least 5 years. Younger people can also benefit from Medicare provided that they have qualified for Social Security disability for at least 24 months on end.

What Medicare Includes

The national health insurance program called Original Medicare consists of four parts:

  • Part A is the hospital coverage that pays for the first 90 days of treatment in a hospital or in a nursing facility as well as for treatment in a hospice facility. Part A pays some of the costs related to hospital treatment even after the first 90 days, but the amount that the beneficiary will have to pay out of pocket will start increasing;
  • Part B is the component that offers coverage for outpatient services, such as visits to the offices of health care providers and the professional administration of certain prescription drugs;
  • Part D is coverage for self-administered prescription drugs. The beneficiary receives a pharmacy card that will give the beneficiary discounts on prescription medication;
  • Part C, also called Medicare Advantage, is an alternative to the previous three types of coverage available from private health insurance companies. This type of coverage also offers certain additional benefits over Original Medicare Parts A, B and D, such as an upper limit on the out-of-pocket expense to be supported by the patient.

People eligible for Original Medicare Part A, B and D can also extend their coverage opting for a Medicare Supplement enrollment, plans available from private insurers that provide help to cover the amount payable by the beneficiary after having used the Original Medicare coverage.

Understanding the Costs

The people eligible for Medicare usually have to cover certain costs out of their pocket. Part A is usually free for people who have worked for at least 10 years in the US or who have a spouse who has worked for that amount of time. The amount that you will be required to pay for Part B depends on your income. The beneficiaries who have higher income will pay more, the amount being calculated through the income adjustment process.

The costs of Part D are somewhat more difficult to calculate. The premiums related to the component will depend on the beneficiary’s level of income as well as on the type of Part D chosen – currently, there are over twenty different Part D plans available.

What Are the Differences Between Outsourced Human Resources and Internal HR Departments?

Posted on by Betty Perez

Outsource human resources

A lot of companies these days prefer to outsource HR tasks rather than set up their own internal human resources department to take care of them. Having your own HR department can be great, but it requires hiring specialized employees who can handle the job of catering to each and every one of your workers. When you decide to expand your company and hire more employees, then your internal HR department can easily become overwhelmed.

Making the decision to outsource human resources can not only take the load off of your own employees, but also ensure that you get a more scalable solution to your HR problem. Should you decide to expand your business of 20 employees and hire an additional 30, you won’t have to worry that your HR department can’t handle the extra workload. Moreover, a lot of HR companies also provide benefits worthy of a large and professional PEO – such as tax and payroll processing services. That will further help you avoid hiring additional experts that you’d need to pay a high salary to.

Under these circumstances, it’s hard to argue against the idea of outsourcing HR. But did you know that you can also pick and choose your HR company according to the industry you operate in and the specific services you require? A lot of human resources service providers have upped the game in what is now a far more competitive industry than what it used to look like. So you can simply talk to the company and decide the extent to which you want them to help you and the specific types of services you would like their assistance with.

A good example is that you can meet with a prospective HR firm you’d like to work with, and they can present you with unique services they may be able to assist with. These can include organizational improvement to speed up your work, training and professional development, services that help improve employee relations and morale in the workplace, recommendations and consultation services for work safety and much more.

In contrast, having your own HR department is an inflexible solution that doesn’t enable you to deal with changing industry trends and standards, and may lead you to fall behind on policies you need to adopt to ensure your employees are treated fairly and that your company is able to thrive and survive in an increasingly competitive market.

Ultimately, what really drives home the idea behind outsourcing HR activities is the accuracy and reliability of HR companies when it comes to dealing with employee complaints. These experts can really ensure that your employees remain satisfied and that they’re not likely to leave and join your competition. You won’t have to worry about delays in addressing complaints or about communication issues between the company and its various employees.

The best HR firms will enhance the way your business works and genuinely help you keep your employees satisfied. That will put your firm at the top of the food chain and also lead to a significant improvement when it comes to your business’ image and reputation.

Can You Get Any Type of Loan from A Credit Union?

Posted on by Betty Perez

Credit unions are special types of financial institutions that are owned by and pay dividend to their members, and that share many similarities with banks, such as the provision of loans. Credit union loans are usually very good options to consider – the loan lending conditions available with credit unions are usually much more convenient that the loan conditions offered by banks. Here are some things to know about how credit unions and their loans work.

Some Credit Union Basics

Credit unions and banks are similar in many ways – they are both financial institutions, they both provide similar products and services, such as deposit accounts, loans, mobile banking and access to cash through ATMs.

Despite the similarities, there are many important differences between the two types of organizations. One of the most important differences is the profit status of the two types of institutions. While banks are privately owned or publicly traded and the principal goal of their activities is to generate profit, credit unions are organizations owned by their members and have a not-for-profit status, which means that all the profits they make are distributed to their members in the form of dividends.

Another important difference between the two types of institutions is the conditions that come with loans. The loans offered by credit unions are usually much more favorable in terms of interest rates and repayment conditions than the products offered by banks.

Parker credit union

 

The Types of Loans Available from Credit Unions

Most credit unions, including a local Parker credit union, offer a wide range of loans, the types being the same as the loan types available from banks. Here are some:

  • Credit cards – the credit lines offered with the credit cards issued by unions work the same way as the lines offered by banks;
  • Secured and unsecured personal loans – the loans that are or are not backed by a collateral are also available from credit union;
  • Mortgages – credit unions offer loans used by the borrowers to purchase property and secured against the property purchased;
  • Auto loans;
  • Home equity lines of credit – credit unions also offer credit lines secured against a home’s equity (the market value of a homeowner’s interest in their property).

Who Can Borrow Money from a Credit Union

Credit unions are financial institutions provide loans only to their registered members. To be allowed to join, aspiring members need to share the union’s “common bond” – the feature that is common to all members, such as membership in the same community, employment with the same employer, working in the same profession. The registration process is usually simple, requiring only a copy of some type of proof of identity, such as a passport or a driving license, and a proof of address, such as the copy of a utility bill issued on the name of the person who wants to register. Many credit unions also offer children’s account, case in which the requirements include a copy of the child’s birth certificate or passport and the proof of ID and address for the guardian or parent.

Are Recruitment Firms Worth the Cost?

Posted on by Betty Perez

Recruitment firms have a well-defined role in the labor market. Some companies use their services to find the right employees, while others work with recruitment agencies do to the undeniable benefits they can take advantage of. But many employers are still not sure what exactly should they expect when contacting a recruitment agency.

Many people assume that it is expensive to turn to a recruitment agency. But is this true?

In fact, it depends on what you understand by “expensive”. A professional recruitment firm does not compromise on quality, so the costs behind the recruitment process are real and necessary. When you advertize your job offer on various sites, you pay for it. After that, you have to consider the administrative costs that come after browsing resumes, initial conversations etc. – these take a long time, and time means money. If you also add to these costs the lack of a guarantee related taking the recruitment process in your own hands, the cost-effectiveness of hiring a recruitment agency is obvious! In addition, you should also consider the other services that such an agency can offer you, such as solutions for staff retention, solutions to increase the competitiveness of the job offer, additional evaluation tests and more.

Given that the labor market experiences a crisis of specialists, and companies end up fighting for the same candidates, any advantage in the field of recruitment deserves to be carefully weighed. A recruitment agency can be such an advantage in recruitment and there are many advantages to working with one.

recruitment services

How do companies come to the conclusion that they need recruitment services and how do they find the right recruitment model for their needs?

Companies that analyze their needs and resources first ask themselves these two questions:

  • Are there people in the HR Department experienced enough to meet all recruitment needs?
  • Does the company need a staff infusion quickly, or can the HR Department prepare a long-term recruitment strategy?

If the answer to both questions is that there are no people in the Human Resources Department ready to quickly recruit a large number of good employees, the best solution is to hire a recruitment agency.

From this collaboration, it is expected that your company gets  at least three important benefits:

  1. Quality candidates
  2. Valuable knowledge in the targeted field
  3. Recruitment speed

Another cost-effective benefit of hiring a recruitment firm is that you can focus on other goals while recruiting. When you need to devote staff time and effort to recruiting and selecting the right staff, you will not have too much time to focus on other activities that are equally important for the development of your business. On the other hand, when you assign this task to a recruitment firm, it will discover the right employees for your company, while you pay attention to growing your business. Time is the most valuable assets of an entrepreneur, which is why choosing a recruitment company is the right thing to do.

 

How To Hire A Real Estate Agent

Posted on by Betty Perez

If you do a Google search, you will undoubtedly find many of real estate agents in your city/ area. But how can you be sure which one to select? How do you know how to choose the one who will really work in your best interest?

Useful advice

  1. Meet real estate agents while they do fieldwork

A good real estate agent spends very little time in the office and a lot of time out, meeting with people who want to buy, sell or rent a property.

 

  • Make sure that the real estate agent has at least a few years experience and a consistent portfolio of clients that he/ she helped buying or selling their homes. You want to collaborate with an agent who is willing to take that extra step, to demonstrate a higher degree of involvement than most real estate agents, to always bear your interest in mind and to help you sell/ buy/rent at the best possible price.
  • Ask for recommendations
  • Search online for top rated agents in your area.

If a friend or relative has worked in the past with an agent and was satisfied with their collaboration, there is a high probability that the services of that agent will be advantageous for you as well.

2. Make sure you hire a real estate agent who in accustomed with the technology

Nowadays, having a laptop and a mobile phone with internet connection is vital. This way, a real estate agent can offer you the most suitable options for your needs, regardless of whether he is at the office or does fieldwork. In 2020, there is no reason why a professional in the real estate business would not be able to communicate using emails and various mobile applications, in order to make easy and quick contact with their clients.

3. Talk to more than one real estate agent

Although some agents seem to be ok, you should be aware that many will try to embellish reality, so be careful about those who try to present you things in a better light than they actually are, instead of exposing the details in realistic terms. Talk to different agents and compare their way of approaching things.

4. Observe the signs that denote that the real estate agent is popular, but not too busy

A hard working person, with many clients on their list is likely a good agent. However, an agent can work efficiently with about 5 buyers and 5 sellers at once, to be able to focus on each of them properly.

5. Make sure the agent is well acquainted with their field of activity.

Ask your agent any questions you need and expect no less than clear and complete answers

6. Do a little market research

A reputable real estate agent maintains working relations with other agents in his area and they collaborate in order to obtain a solution that is most advantageous for their clients.

7. Ask the agent to show you some testimonials of people who hired them over time

8. Ask the real estate agent you want to hire if they can recommend other specialists/ contractors (such as  to help you with notary deeds, repairs to be done at home and other such things.

 

How Competitive Is The Clinical Counselor Job Market?

Posted on by Betty Perez

Did You Know The Level of Competition In Social Work Jobs Denver

The term clinical psychology was first used in the beginning of the 20th century and was placed alongside medicine, education and sociology. From this perspective, the clinical psychologist’s work involves aspects of education, treatment and interpersonal issues. At present, defining clinical psychology is a great challenge because this area has witnessed significant increases in a wide variety of directions. As a group, contemporary psychologists accomplish many different things, considering different goals for various people.

The field of clinical psychology integrates science, practice and theory to understand, anticipate and improve discomfort and disability, and promote adaptation and personal development. Clinical psychology focuses on the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social and behavioral aspects of lifelong human functioning at all socioeconomic levels and in different cultures. Clinical psychology involves thorough research and practice to understand and improve the many psychological aspects of human experience, including but not limited to problems of intellect, emotion or behavior.

How does the psychologist differ from the psychological counselor?

First, a psychologist differs from a counselor in terms of the characteristics of the clients with whom they work with. Psychologists generally treat individuals with pathological problems while counselors work and “advise” less disturbed clients to optimize their self-knowledge and personal development and/ or to promote healthy habits, to prevent and resolve emotional, cognitive and behavioral problems. However, these two areas have many similarities, both psychologists and psychological counselors being licensed in psychology.

Compared to counselors, psychologists treat a more severely disturbed population, and accordingly tend to work in hospitals, psychiatric wards, clinics and individual clinics. On the other hand, psychological counselors work rather in counseling centers.  Also, there may be some differences in their theoretical orientation: both areas approach an eclectic orientation, but psychologists are rather behaviorist, while counselors opt for a humanist approach, centered on the client.

Aspects related to the current clinical counselor job market

These days, insurance companies must cover mental health treatment, therefore therapy services have become increasingly accessible and also less stigmatized. Policies currently protect much more people than before and there are new centers and clinical mental health counseling positions created all over the country. Statistics show that the states with the highest employment levels of counselors include California, Virginia and New York.

To become a licensed clinical counselor or to obtain one of the social work jobs Denver area, one must get a master’s degree and state license; voluntary certifications are also important, such as Master Addictions Counselor, Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor or the National Certified Counselor.

The clinical counselor job market is quite competitive these days, with the number of clinical mental health specialists expected to grow in the next decade, with about 20%. It is also estimated that 25% of these positions will be created in family and individual services.

Licensed clinical counselors typically work in outpatient mental health centers, but some work in hospitals (public or private), addiction centers, residential behavioral facilities, college campuses and even government-run health offices. Some of them also start their own private practices, gathering their own client base. Clinical counseling jobs are full-time and often include weekends, to fit clients’ schedules.