Archive: Business & Technology

Dr. Digit 'Splains It AllDr. Digit 'Splains It All

If you celebrated Easter last weekend it is likely you painted Easter eggs or had an egg hunt.  But you may be surprised to learn that you probably have Easter eggs that you didn't know you had.  According to the Easter Egg Archive Web site, an Easter egg is 'any any hidden, entertaining thing that a creator hides in their creation only for their own personal reasons.'  Easter eggs are undocumented, hidden, and non obvious, can be seen by anyone who has the same product, non-malicious, and entertaining.

(Ithaca, NY) The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Foundation held a special Beatles tribute concert at Castaways on Friday, March 23rd. The evening was a smashing success as over 350 people attended and over $3,500 was raised for The Cayuga Waterfront Trail!

Some of the performers that donated their time and talent for this event include: Hubcap, Plastic Nebraska, Joe Crookston, Five 2, Jamie Notarthomas, Mary Lorson & St. Low, Cypher: Dissident, and Larry Stamatel.

If you're like most people, you have a variety of financial goals: college for your children, a comfortable retirement, a vacation home and so on. You might be able to achieve all these goals on your own - but you will likely find it a lot easier if you get a little help from a financial advisor.

But how do you choose the right one? For starters, ask your friends, relatives and co-workers whom they use. Then interview some of the people they recommend. What questions should you ask at such an interview? Consider these:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration will honor America’s top entrepreneurs – and name the National Small Business Person of the Year – at national ceremonies in Washington, D.C., during Small Business Week, April 23-24. The two-day celebration will honor the small business accomplishments of individuals and business owners at four major award events.

“The SBA is proud to honor the entrepreneurial spirit of the men and women who have played such a key role in the success of the economy and the prosperity of our nation,” SBA Administrator Steven Preston said. “I amproud torepresentan agency that touches so many people’s lives, not only helping them realize their dreams, but doing so in a way that provides jobs, expands our economy, and supports innovation in our country.”

Many investors try to "time" the market by "buying low and selling high." In theory, that's a great idea - but it's almost impossible to put into practice.

If you try to outguess the market, you run the substantial risk of guessing wrong - of buying stocks too soon, before they get even cheaper, or of selling stocks too late, after they've fallen from their highs. But these are only the most obvious of the problems that can result from market timing. Here are some others to consider:

On March 22nd the Ithaca Coffee Company opened its second Ithaca store in a new 2100 square foot space, located in the Gateway Commons building on the corner of East State & Green Streets.

The store will feature their own fresh roasted coffee, gourmet cheese, extensive selection of teas, craft beers, candy – including specialty chocolates, coffee, jams and other gourmet foods, Espresso machines, kitchen items, and teapots.

Interest rates are constantly changing. But how do rising or falling interest rates affect your investment strategies?

There's no simple answer, of course. If you own stocks, higher interest rates could be a cause for concern, because when interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive for companies to borrow to expand their operations. As a result, these businesses may feel a squeeze on their profitability - and their stock prices. And yet, some businesses are much more affected by rising interest rates than others, so, as an investor, you can't really base your actions on a blanket statement such as: "Higher interest rates are bad for all stocks."

The situation is a little different if you own fixed-income vehicles, such as bonds. When interest rates rise, the value of your bonds will fall. That's because no one will want to pay you the full price for your bonds when he or she can buy new ones issued with a higher interest rate. To sell yours, you'd have to offer them at a "discount" to their face value. On the other hand, if interest rates fall, the value of your existing bonds will rise, so if you were to sell them, you could get a premium price.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Postal Service today unveiled a new Internet tool for small business owners, designed to deliver business solutions to entrepreneurs.

Delivering Success, an online video-on-demand resource of successful entrepreneurs, is a nationwide cosponsorship with the Postal Service to provide small business owners with invaluable information through video interviews that are both accessible and convenient for entrepreneurs.

As you're probably aware, the traditional pension plan has not fared so well in recent years. In fact, many large companies have frozen or discontinued their plans. Congress passed laws last year to strengthen pensions, but some other provisions of this legislation may interest you even if you don't have a pension - especially if you may be coming into an inheritance that includes a 401(k).

And a 401(k) can be a sizable bequest. By the time many people retire, their 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan - such as a 403(b) or 457(b) - may be their biggest single financial asset. Even if they died before depleting the funds in their 401(k) or other plan, they might still have a large chunk of money to pass on. It's never been much of a problem to leave this money to a spouse, who could roll the funds into an IRA. Once the money was in this IRA, the surviving spouse could continue enjoying the benefits of tax-deferred growth.

The Ithaca Downtown Partnership will hold a special ribbon cutting ceremony for Everything Wellness Raw Foods Market at 3:00 p.m. today, March 9, 2007.  Everything Wellness officially opened last summer, and was only open on Saturdays. Starting this month, the store will be open on Fridays as well and there are plans to gradually increase its operating hours to include more weekdays.

Owner Ashtarra Brissette explains why the hours are currently limited: “Just making a pie can take three days. Nuts can take that long to dehydrate.” While a raw foods enthusiast would know this, it can come as a surprise to people who think “raw foods” are simply fruits and vegetables. Ironically, the process involves more than just peeling and slicing produce, and Brissette’s knowledge of raw foods is both educating and enlightening. “All the high tech equipment… it’s become more of a science. You can actually create a gourmet meal using just raw foods.

March 2, 2007 (Ithaca, NY) - The Ithaca Downtown Partnership will hold a special ribbon cutting this afternoon for Eth’nyk, a new downtown fashion boutique, and the first clothing store in New York State to feature apparel from “Bamboosa”, a South Carolina based sweatshop-free company that makes clothing out of bamboo fiber. This is great news for eco-conscious consumers as bamboo, like other natural fibers such as hemp, is anti-bacterial, breathable and 100% biodegradable. Most notably, though, bamboo is nature's most sustainable resource.

Eth’nyk’s owner, Stella McGovern, saw Downtown Ithaca as “the perfect place” to open her boutique, which officially opened October 21, 2006. Originally from India, McGovern moved to Ithaca from Long Island in October. She picked Ithaca “because of the local colleges, its proximity to other universities, the eco-village and the natural cemetery. And Ithaca looked like a good place to raise my kids.”

If you breathed a sigh of relief when you put away that algebra or geometry textbook for the last time, you might not be eager to take up the subject of math again. However, by doing some number crunching, you can put a "price tag" on your long-term financial goals - and that's the first step toward achieving them.

To quantify the costs of your objectives, you must be specific about what you're trying to accomplish. Do you want to retire as soon as you possibly can and then spend your time traveling the world? Or are you planning to work until 65 and then open your own small business? Obviously, these are vastly different goals - with vastly different costs to you.