Archives for August 2022

American Hope Resources: How To Prepare Your Finances For Economic Downturns

An economic downturn can have a devastating effect on your finances and life in general. That is why you need to be prepared for rainy days. American Hope Resources has conducted an interview to address the topic.

With the answers below, you have everything you need to know to keep your head above the waters of recession.

WHAT IS AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN?

An economic downturn or recession is a significant continuous and pervasive decline in a country’s economic activities.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING A RECESSION?

A recession is deemed to happen when a country has a steady decline in its economic output for more than two or more consecutive quarters of the financial year.

A slow economy characterizes the economic downturn. Businesses produce less, and consumers’ ability to purchase is limited. Several people get laid off, and businesses close down or make fewer sales. The actual economy struggles, and the country experiencing the recession has a decreased overall economic output.

HOW CAN YOU PREPARE YOUR FINANCES FOR AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN?

First, you should rebalance your portfolio. This means moving some of the money that investors may shift to bonds back to stocks.

In the face of an upcoming recession, it should become evident that you need to cut off costs and review subscriptions and bank statements. Cost-cutting apps such as TrueBill or Trim can do this for you.

You must save enough to last at least six months or more to prepare for a recession. You should also ensure that your money isn’t in an ordinary savings account but rather one that yields interest, no matter how small. You must ensure that it is not a locked account so that you can assess your money when you need it.

Lastly, recessions are usually characterized by an increase in unemployment. The best way to avoid being unemployed during the time is to add more value to yourself. That will ensure that you can take up other jobs if you lose your current one during the recession.

CAN YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN?

Yes, you can! The first thing to do when you get wind of a possible recession is to stay calm. The market will inevitably bounce back.

So, don’t go ahead to sell off your investments.

You can make use of the dollar-cost average when share prices decline. You can also buy into dividends or invest in consumer staples (essential commodities).

You should also know that low market prices mean you can buy more shares. When the prices go up, you will see much greater growth. This doesn’t mean you should invest indiscriminately. Instead, you should consult a financial planner to know which funds to buy.

WHAT SHOULD YOU INVEST IN DURING AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN?

Funds that track the stock market, such as S&P 500 or FTSE, are a good investment choice during a recession. At American Hope Resources, we recommend investing in industries whose business is not determined by the economy, e.g., healthcare companies.

 

The peculiarities of European dating and how you can be happy with it

European dating: how to date European women

Dating in Europe: what is it like and what its pros and cons are? This question is quite generic because, as you know, Europe is very big. Learning about European dating is not a matter of one post. It takes years. However, you can figure out a little bit more about European women, what their attitude to Americans or Australians is, and what they expect from men, in general.

When speaking about girls from Europe, you should clearly distinguish what country you are interested in. Definitely, women from Western and Eastern Europe will not be the same. Their cultures and dating scenes will be quite different. Therefore, we will tell you more about these differences right now.

European girls vs American ladies

European females American females
They are a puzzle and want you to guess everything Very open-minded and direct
Wait for you to come and conquer them Do not mind telling you they like you and ask you for a drink
Consider flowers and courtship a part of the dating culture Believe that flowers and other cute things demonstrate your weakness

Based on all that, we can make a conclusion that the same approach that works with American ladies cannot be used when dating European girls. How do they want you to approach them? See the answers to all of your questions below.

European dating scene

Women remain women everywhere. It seems that it should be true and no matter the lady from what part of the world you chase, they should like the same things. However, women are called to challenge you. Nothing works the same way with them. If an American girl is very open about what she wants, a woman in Europe (and especially in Eastern Europe) will rarely act first.

They expect the first move from a man. In European culture:

  • A man should pursue a woman;
  • He pays the dating bills;
  • Flowers should accompany every date;
  • Girls wait for your attention and expect you to conquer them;
  • A woman is a fortress you must conquer

How to conquer a European girl

If at first sight, it seemed that a lady did not like you, you should not give up in Europe. A woman does not really pay attention to what you say or your physical qualities. They want to see your actions. These actions involve your persistence, first of all.

By no means, you should grab her hands and call her days and nights. This is not persistence. In European understanding, you would be annoying and too overwhelming. That is the biggest no-no when dealing with European girls. Being persistent means conquering her.

If she rejected talking to you or did not give you her phone number, you can always send a bunch of flowers to her. It would be great if she would not know who the sender is. Whatever her attitude to you is, the girl will definitely be intrigued. Attach some cards along with your flowers.

After you know that she is nearly knocked off her feet and really curious to know her secret follower, you can keep acting. Show up and ask her out in the evening. Sending a teddy bear or a box of chocolates is always a good idea in Europe. Of course, we are speaking about the perfect dating scene. Not all women in Europe are so romantic.

However, it always works perfectly with girls from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. If one of these countries is in the circle of your interest, you will succeed when approaching a lady as mentioned above.

The date

If the girl asks you to pick her up, it is better to drive or take a taxi and pay for it. Do not expect her to walk a long way to a restaurant. European ladies usually dress up very elegantly and wear high heels when going out. If you make her walk on her heels, consider your date failed.

Once arrived, open the door of your car or taxi and give your hand so she could get out of the car. American ladies consider it useless because of feministic movements but European girls highly appreciate such gestures. Gentlemen are always valued. Open the door of the restaurant for her and let her in first. Help her take her coat off and on at the end of your date. Arrange a chair for her.

These things are well forgotten in western culture. However, they are still practiced among Eastern Europeans. Local girls are used to that but if you don’t do one of these actions at least once, they will notice it and make their conclusions immediately.

The dating bills are always up to a man. In western Europe, ladies may happily share the bills with you. However, in Eastern Europe, it is very bad and cheap behavior when a man offers to share the bills. A woman will hardly show up for the second date. In case you are dating online on European dating sites, you can also prove you are a gentleman by sending gifts, flowers, etc. to your special one.

Where to find a European woman for dating

The answer is obvious — you can find them in Europe. However, you may also check among women in your country because many girls from Eastern Europe move to different countries. We bet you would come across some of them even in your home town. This is a shot in the dark though, as well as coming to Europe in search of dating partners.

European ladies are very cautious when it comes to foreigners. They do not really want to establish connections with men arriving in their countries due to a large number of sex tourists. Therefore, getting their attention and trust will be challenging.

A European dating website can be a great option. European women on Sofiadate, for instance, know that serious western guys prefer joining reliable websites or matchmaking services and be sure of the results. This is where most European girls prefer looking for their western men.

On European dating websites, all girls pass background checks and you will hardly come across not very serious women or scammers. All of them are quite serious about their search and have true intentions of marrying and moving abroad. So, pluck up your courage and don’t hesitate to join the most reputable european dating websites and you will succeeed for sure!

 

Review: Why Small Businesses Love Equitable Marketing’s Services

Equitable Marketing Review

Marketing can be a monumental task to tackle, especially for small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford to onboard a team of hundreds of marketing and analyst experts. Fortunately, agencies like Equitable Marketing exist to even out the playing field.

Equitable Marketing has been leading the charge in marketing solutions for businesses for half a decade now, and they’ve quickly made a name for themselves. They’re highly respected and trusted in the business community, and I was lucky enough to land an interview with a few of their representatives.

I wanted to learn about their services and why businesses keep coming to them for their marketing needs. Here’s how that interview went:

How personalized are the strategies you create? Do you work off of any templates?

We create fully customized plans to the business’s needs. We here at Equitable Marketing do not believe in cookie-cutter marketing because businesses are just as unique as people. Every business is going to want to target a different audience in a different way.

And over the long term, they are going to have different goals. We do not have templates for businesses; the plans are 100% custom. This only works because of our team’s vast experience across industries. We have marketing veterans that have seen it all, so we are never surprised and have a solution for anything.

You mentioned long-term growth. So do you stay with companies for support?

Absolutely, if that’s what they request; as I said, every business is different. Some businesses want long-term marketing solutions; others just want a quick campaign created. Either way, we are here to help, and we are masters of it all.

We’ve helped companies achieve a quick, measurable goal, and we’ve also helped companies sustain their social media platforms for years and legitimize their brand.

Let’s say a business or entrepreneur uses your service and then goes off on their own. Do you prepare them, or will they need to come back?

Absolutely we prepare them; that’s part of our mission statement. After working with us, a business should be prepared to take the reigns of their marketing. We do our best to explain everything we’re doing every step of the way so that our marketing strategies aren’t just effective but they’re also sustainable.

We haven’t talked specifics yet. Could you quickly go over some of the services you offer?

Sure thing, we offer social media management and marketing, risk management, search engine marketing’, analytics and optimization, and much more. We are all about creating plans and working with the client. So while these are what we advertise, our actual catalog of tools is much more vast.

Do you mind getting specific on the specifics? Could you tell us about, say, your social media marketing service?

Social media marketing includes research into your target audience, how to engage with them on social media, and how to effectively deliver our client’s message to that audience. Every audience is different, and these things take a lot of effort to figure out.

But, as I mentioned, once we do, we always share the information we gather with our clients so they can take over afterward.