Few employers expect to save money on private exchanges

Posted on March 28, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

Those in the fast-growing private health insurance exchange business have some work to do to overcome doubts about how much money they\’ll end up saving employers. Many have already bought and have found tremendous savings at http://www.UnitedStatesInsuranceMarketplace.com.

That’s one of the more sobering tidbits to come out of a survey of more than 700 employers of all sizes and in a variety of industries.

The good news is that the survey found that 45 percent of the responding employers plan to consider or will be using a private exchange before 2018.

The number of private exchanges has increased of late as major consulting players such as Aon Hewitt, Towers Watson and Mercer have launched or expanded their own and begun to sign on employer clients.

Conducted by the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative, the survey found what other, similar studies have ascertained – that employers are looking to cut costs and administrative burdens, though it also uncovered a measure of doubt by employers.

The PEEC was recently launched by four non-profit business coalitions – Employers Health Coalition Inc. (Ohio), the Midwest Business Group on Health, Northeast Business Group on Health, and the Pacific Business Group on Health – and PwC U.S., the accounting firm.

“Private exchanges have the opportunity to gain traction over the next five years as an alternative to traditional employer-sponsored benefit options,” said Christopher Goff, CEO and General Counsel of the Employers Health Coalition. “However, many of the firms that have served as ‘trusted advisors’ to employers for benefits strategy and vendor evaluations are now vendors themselves, providing private exchange solutions to employers.

“We’ve established the collaborative to serve as an independent, unbiased party to assess the marketplace and evaluate private exchange capabilities to meet employer needs and objectives and the findings in this survey will help us accomplish these goals.”

Among the survey’s key findings:

Close to 70 percent of employers believe it is very important that their advisor is independent of any exchange they are considering. (This finding bodes well for the nation’s independent benefits brokers who fear they’ll lose business with the rising popularity of exchanges, both public and private).

Only 25 percent think moving to a private exchange will save them money.

The greatest barriers to private exchange adoption relate to their immaturity, the uncertainty about their long-term stability and employer’s loss of flexibility, especially as it relates to tailoring benefit plan designs.

Interest in private exchanges extends across all industry segments and employer size, while the importance of exchange features varies between employers.

Employers are split on whether they will move to a defined contribution approach.

The online survey was conducted in November of 723 respondents representing self-insured and fully-insured employers.

“The survey results indicate a strong interest in private exchanges, but also uncertainty about the benefits,” said Laurel Pickering, President and CEO, Northeast Business Group on Health. “PEEC will assist employers with their review of private exchanges, help them navigate the complexities, and determine the value proposition.”

Consulting firm Accenture has predicted as many as 40 million Americans would get their coverage via private exchanges by 2018.

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Are you using direct mail?

Posted on March 27, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

Is direct mail dead? Many people might say yes; after all, electronic communications are instantaneous – and there’s no postage to worry about. But that doesn’t mean you should abandon direct mail entirely. According to Zach South, president of Best Rate Referrals, a well-handled direct mail campaign can still yield impressive results.

“Is direct mail dead? Really, it’s not – but you have to be really smart about it,” South said.

According to South, one of the biggest factors that determines the success of a campaign is what it’s selling.

“If you are targeting general loan programs that have been out for a few years, then responses really aren’t where they were two years ago, just because those people have been hammered from all different types of marketing media,” he says. “However, if you’re first to market, the first to launch a direct mail campaign about a new program that opens up a new group of consumers or homeowners, we’re seeing really good responses. An example of that would be these new FHA loans where there’s low credit or no credit check required. That’s really opened up the door to target a group of homeowners that typically haven’t been targeted over the last few years.”

Three factors for success

In fact, South said that Best Rate Referrals breaks the success of any direct mail campaign down into three parts – and the biggest factor is, unsurprisingly, marketing to the right people.

“Seventy percent of the success of a mail campaign has to do with the mailing list you’re mailing to,” he said. “That includes the type of data, where you got that data, and the filters you used to create that list of homeowners or consumers.”

Another factor, of course, is the content of the mailing itself – but that might not be as big a factor as some think.

“Twenty percent of the success of a direct mail campaign is the actual letter,” South said. “A lot of people think, ‘I need to make this fancy, pretty letter. I need to send it out to a graphic designer and spend 500 bucks to make it look really good.” That’s nice, but really only about 20% of the success of your campaign is coming down to that letter.”

The third factor for success is one that’s a bit less intuitive.

“The last 10% is really the day of the week the mail is delivered,” South said. “We find that if the mail is delivered later in the week, the response rates drop considerably. The best way to combat that is to mail it out on a Thursday or Friday. Assuming you’re sending it first-class mail, it’ll be delivered Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. By following that game plan, you can increase your response rate by at least a half a percent – just by having the mail delivered o those specific days.

“Think about it: you get your mail at the beginning of the week, when it’s a new week and you’ve got all this stuff on your plate you want to get done,” he added. “So you’re more active with regards to responding to a direct mail offer. Later in the week, you’re thinking about the weekend and what you’re going to do for fun. You’re not thinking about refinancing your house or anything like that.”

Boost your open rate

These days, most professionals think of “open rates” in terms of email marketing. But of course, your direct mailing isn’t going to do much good if it goes straight into your customers’ trash cans.

“You have your list of people that you’ve filtered down, and you’re going to mail it out – but how do you get that person to open the letter?” South said. “How do you make it not look like junk mail?”

That’s especially challenging when some of the tried-and-true strategies to get customers to open their mail aren’t working anymore.

“A lot of people think, ‘I’m going to do handwritten fonts on the envelope to make it look like somebody wrote this.’ That might have worked five or 10 years ago, but it doesn’t work these days,” South said. “So what we’ve been doing is putting messaging on the outside of the envelope to entice the homeowner to open it. There’s all sorts of different messaging you can do. Instead of just the return address, print something on the envelope that catches the eye and entices them to open it. If no one’s opening the letter, no one’s going to read it and call you.”

Keep it simple

In the end, South reiterated, a successful direct mail campaign is all about timing and good planning.

“It’s really all about being first to market and working with a direct mail partner that understands the industry and keeps up with that type of stuff,” he said. “If you do that, you can be successful.”

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More than 10.1 million paid disability last year

Posted on March 26, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

More than 10.1 million people were paid disability benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance program in 2012, 2.5 percent of whom were disabled widows or widowers.

According to the most recent report from the Social Security Administration, awards to 960,206 disabled workers accounted for 90 percent of awards to 1.06 million disabled beneficiaries.

In December, payments to disabled beneficiaries totaled $10.9 billion and benefits were terminated for 728,320 disabled workers.

The SSA found that the number of disabled workers began to steadily increase beginning in 1990. In December 2012, there were 8.8 million disabled workers; 1 million disabled adult children and 255,472 disabled widows and widowers receiving disability benefits.

Geographically, the states with the highest rates of disabled beneficiaries—7 percent or more—were Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi and West Virginia. The West and Midwest had the lowest rates of disability.

About one in seven disabled beneficiaries also received Supplemental Security Income payments.

Workers accounted for the largest share of disabled beneficiaries, or 87.5 percent. The average age of those receiving benefits was 53, with men accounting for the majority of those benefits. Disabled beneficiaries with mental disorders accounted for one-third of the payments made in 2012.

According to the SSA, the average monthly benefit received was $1,134.86.

The percentage of disabled-worker beneficiaries increases with age for both men and women. In December, the largest percentage of disabled-worker beneficiaries were between the ages of 60 and 64. Disability benefits convert to retirement benefits when the worker reaches full retirement age, which is between age 65 and 67, depending on the year of birth, according to the SSA.

The Social Security program has been providing cash benefits to people with disabilities since 1956. In 1958, it added payments to disabled workers’ dependents. In 1967, the act was amended to provide benefits for disabled widows and widowers aged 50 to 64 at a reduced rate.

To be eligible for the program, a person must be totally disabled. SSDI does not pay benefits for partial disability or for short-term disability.

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Home prices continue higher, sales surge

Posted on March 25, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

Home prices continue higher, sales surge
Two measures of US home prices have been released this week, one for December 2015 and one for January. While both show gains, they reveal differing views of the pace of increases.

The S&P/Case-Shiller HPI reveals home prices were up by 5.4 per cent in the 12 months to December 2015 compared to a 5.2 per cent rate in November. Portland (11.4 per cent), San Francisco (10.4) and Denver (10.2) had the largest year-over-year gains in the 20-city index.

“While home prices continue to rise, the pace is slowing a bit,” said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Seasonally adjusted, Miami had lower prices this month than last and 10 other cities saw smaller increases than last month. Year-over-year, seven cities saw the rate of price increases wane.”

Meanwhile, data from the National Association of Realtors shows the fastest pace of price increases since April 2015. January’s median sales price for existing homes was $213,800, up 8.2 per cent from a year earlier. Sales were also higher, up 11 per cent year-over-year to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist commented: “The housing market has shown promising resilience in recent months, but home prices are still rising too fast because of ongoing supply constraints,” he said. “Despite the global economic slowdown, the housing sector continues to recover and will likely help the U.S. economy avoid a recession.”

US cities rank lower for quality of life than you might expect
An annual ranking of global cities based on quality of life has disappointing results for America’s cities. The Mercer Quality of Living Index is based on metrics such as housing, schools, recreation, economy and climate. The top five cities are Vienna, Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver.

In North America, Canada dominates with Toronto and Ottawa joining Vancouver in the top 20 while the highest-placed city in the US is San Francisco at number 28, followed by Boston (34), Honolulu (35), Chicago (43), and New York City (44).

Weak year ahead for commercial real estate says Morgan Stanley
There may be no growth at all in the commercial real estate sector according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. The zero per cent growth estimate is down from a previous expectation of 5 per cent and the higher cost of commercial borrowing is a major factor in the downgrade. The low cost of some borrowing is being squeezed by softened performance of mortgage-backed bonds and with interest rates also increasing the commercial sector may seem less attractive to investors.

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Employers ignoring PPACA wellness incentives

Posted on March 24, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

Few employers seem interested in taking advantage of the wellness incentives of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

That was one of the key findings of a study released Monday by Virgin HealthMiles and Workforce magazine. Nearly 10,000 employees at 1,308 workplaces participated in the survey, titled “The Business of Healthy Employees.” Eighty percent of the companies surveyed offer health and wellness programs.

Only a quarter of the companies surveyed said they were planning to use wellness provisions of the PPACA to enhance employee health benefits programs — despite the fact that the law would allow employers to substantially increase the percentage of benefits represented by financial incentives.

This could be a major boat that employers are about to miss, because the study also indicated that such incentives matter to employees. The study said:

“In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will provide additional provisions for health and wellness initiatives. Only 25.8 percent of the organizations surveyed indicate having any plans to take advantage of the wellness provisions offered in the ACA. This is partially due to either a lack of understanding of the benefits offered (15.9 percent) or lack of desire to take advantage (19.3 percent).

“There are a number of reasons why companies should look at taking advantage of the ACA provisions. Starting in 2014, employers can raise the total amount of financial incentives offered from 20 percent to 30 percent of the organization’s health care plan costs. The ceiling goes to 50 percent for smoking cessation programs. This allows organizations to raise the financial incentives offered to employees who participate in the program, and can lead to increased savings while gaining the positive return on investment.”

Companies that take advantage of the law’s provisions are likely to have happier and more engaged workers, said Chris Boyce, CEO, Virgin HealthMiles. “The opportunity to increase your wellness incentives enables you to further customize your corporate wellness initiative and make sure you’re offering a comprehensive and diversified set of programs that best meet the needs of your workforce.”

Other key conclusions from the study included:

Employees value health and wellness programs. In all, 87.2 percent of employees surveyed said they consider health and wellness packages when choosing an employer.

Health and wellness programs positively influence an organization’s culture of wellness.
Seventy percent of workers reported that wellness programs “positively
influence the culture at work,” and 57.5 percent say wellness program
involvement “has had a positive influence on their colleagues, friends
and family.”

Incentives matter. Though the dominant motive for
employee participation in health and wellness programs is to improve
their health (78.2 percent), incentives are important — 61.4 percent of
employees say the incentives they earn through participating in wellness
programs are a key reason they participate.

Communication of benefits package information lacks clarity. Half of employees said “they are not aware of, or need to know more about, health and wellness programs offered by employers.

Metrics are a challenge. In contrast to last year’s
results, measurement was a much larger issue among employers this year.
Only 31 percent of organizations reported that they were “satisfied with
their health and wellness metrics.” (Does anyone see a business
opportunity here?)

Also of interest to benefits managers were the findings that compared
benefits of interest to employees to the benefits offered by employers.
For instance, only 12.7 percent of employees said they cared about
smoking-cessation incentive programs, yet 50.3 percent of employers said
they offered them. Nearly 80 percent of employees said they wanted
healthy on-site food choices, but only a third of employers said they
offered such choices.

Better matches were found in weight-management incentive programs: 56
percent of workers wanted them, and 49 percent of companies had them.
Similarly, 36 percent of employees said they were interested in mental
health management programs, and 38 percent of companies offer them.

The study was commissioned as part of National Employee Wellness Month.

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Look what Bank of America has done

Posted on March 23, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies


Bank of America has launched a new mortgage product which allows homebuyers to make a downpayment of just 3 per cent with no requirement for mortgage insurance. It is seen as a swipe at the FHA which requires insurance for downpayments of as little as 3.5 per cent and has punished big banks recently for errors. BoA has partnered with Freddie Mac and the Self-Help Ventures Fund who will back the new loans. The Wall Street Journal quotes BoA managing director D. Steve Boland: “We need an alternative in the marketplace that helps creditworthy borrowers with a track record of paying debts on time.” The loans will only be available to those on incomes lower than the area median and with credit scores of at least 660.

Google to close online mortgage site
Google-parent Alphabet could have posed a threat to mortgage brokers with its online offering, after all the internet giant is well placed to dominate online searches for mortgage products. However, it has announced that it is pulling out of the business after just a year.

The Google Compare service was launched in the US and UK last year offering comparisons between mortgage lenders, insurers and credit card companies with Google picking up commission from the referrals. The firm has now said that the service will end on March 23, writing in an email to its partners that the service “hasn’t driven the success we hoped for.”

While Google may have dropped out of the industry for now, some experts predict that it will still want a slice of the market and may return once it has sorted out some issues with its first try, not least the lack of some major mortgage lenders on the site.

Homeowners are expecting home equity gains this year
Eight-five percent of homeowners are expecting the equity in their homes to increase by up to 10 per cent. That’s according to a survey by mortgage lender LoanDepot which found that 46 per cent of those with a mortgage expect some increase, a quarter expect 6 to 10 per cent and 58 per cent expecting 1 to 5 per cent.

The poll also found that most homeowners underestimate the amount of equity increase in their home since the start of the housing recovery with more than a quarter believing their home is worth between 1 and 5 per cent since 2013 while the actual figure may be double.

Three out of five homeowners say they now have enough equity to take out a home equity loan, while 16 per cent do not know how much equity they would need to qualify for a loan. Only 16 percent of all owners with a mortgage say they do not yet have enough equity to take out a home equity loan. Home remodeling, paying down debts and retirement savings are among the top reasons that a home equity loan would be used for according to the survey.

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The good news about electronic health records

Posted on March 22, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

 

The acceptance of electronic health records has certainly been slower and faced more criticism than one might have expected from a trend that seemed inevitable in a world that has largely replaced paper with pixels.

But EHRs are getting some good press that its proponents no doubt believe is long overdue.

Recently, the doctor who discovered and exposed the hazardous lead levels in Flint’s water supply credited EHRs by Epic Health Systems, the largest EHR provider in the country, for making the discovery possible.

And a new study reports that hospitals that have fully implemented an EHR system experience significantly fewer “adverse” events, such as heart attacks, pneumonia or surgery.

The rapid growth of clinical and consumer health information technology has kept pace into 2015, fueled largely by the billions…

The study of more than 45,000 patients, published in the Journal of Patient Safety by a team of researchers from the Department of Health and Human Services, Harvard and the University of Connecticut found that those in hospitals that had fully adopted an EHR system were 17 to 30 percent less likely to experience an adverse event.

“The findings suggest that hospitals with EHRs can provide what advocates have long claimed: better coordinated care from admission to discharge that reduces the risk of harm reaching patients,” wrote Amy Helwig and Edwin Lomotan of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which financed the study.

EHRs have gotten a big push from the Obama administration, which set up a program to incentivize their adoption in the 2009 stimulus legislation.

But if the study demonstrated the benefits of EHRs, it also displayed how challenging full adoption of the new system has been for providers. Only 13 percent of the Medicare patients observed were in hospitals that had put in place all of the necessary changes.

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Is your Real Estate business organized?

Posted on March 21, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies
Trouble staying, or getting organized? Follow this easy step-by-step file management system for better efficiency, productivity, and results from your business.

Recently I had a discussion with Jana, our transaction coordinator, regarding the importance of agents keeping things organized in their business.  Whether that is organizing your files, systems, or even your time, each is critical to an agent’s success.

As Jana puts it “good organization is key to a successful transaction and being organized saves you time, money and potential transaction mishaps.” I couldn’t agree with her more. Here are some of the great ideas that came from our discussion.

The first step is to create a system to manage all of your paperwork and all of your transactions.  On your computer, you can categorize your folders. Make sure to keep all business and personal files separate!

The main folders should include:

ADMIN
BUYERS
SELLERS
CLIENTS
MARKETING
SYSTEMS
The Admin Folder
Inside the this folder, create these sub-folders:

BUSINESS: This might include documents for your business license, corporation documents, taxes, financial, broker, and business receipts (keep these by tax year).
CLOCK HOURS: This is the folder where you can keep certificates to track your clock hours for license renew.
EMPLOYEES: You can use this folder if you have employees or vendors which will contain information such as contracts, payroll, etc.
PASSWORDS: Warning! For best business practices, make sure to keep these in a password protected file!
POLICIES: This folder will contain policy information for your business. Yes ,you are a business and you need policies!
The Buyers Folder
Inside this folder, create these sub-folders:

CLOSED: Include clients separate by year i.e. “CLOSED 2015” “CLOSED 2016”.
LOOKING or IN PROCESS: This folder is for any buyers who you have begun to show homes to but haven’t yet written an offer.
OFFERS: Keep client folders for those in process here
PENDING: This folder is for pending files.
In the above folders, include a folder for each client and simply move the folder from one folder to the next as they complete a transaction.

The Sellers Folder
Inside this folder, create these sub-folders:

ACTIVE
CLOSED (have folders for each year i.e. “CLOSED 2015” “CLOSED 2016”
NOT YET LISTED
PENDING
WITHDRAWN
Same thing here regarding client folders. Make a folder for each client and move the folders between the folders.

The Clients Folder
Inside of this folder, create these sub-folders:

CLIENT DATABASE
CLIENT LISTS/GROUPS – if you separate your database in categories such as, family, friends, sphere, past clients, referrals, active, hot, closed, and sold, etc. then you can keep them all together in this folder.
The Marketing Folder
Inside this folder, these sub-folders:

ADVERTISING – Include information on newspaper, radio, TV, internet ads.
BLOG – Keep copy of all blog articles by date AND subject for easy reference.
BIOGRAPHIES – Keep a copy of your bio or bios, so they can easily be updated as needed.
CLASSES – If you teach a first time home buyer class, for example, include that information, materials, and curriculum here.
DESIGNATIONS – Keep copies of certificates, descriptions, expiration dates, etc. in this folder.
MARKET STATS – Data collected regarding the real estate market would go in this folder. You can keep it in folders by date to ensure accurate data for blogs, website, and social media.
MY STATS – This would include ranking reports, sale reports, etc.
TESTIMONIALS – Video testimonials and written ones would be included in this folder.
VENDORS – In this folder, keep a list of vendors you use for various things whether it be lenders, escrow or plumbers, handy-man, window washing, lawn care, cleaning, etc.
WEBSITE – Keep your website content here so it can easily be edited then copy/pasted to update your website quickly.
Now, inside your Marketing folder you are also going to want to have a TEMPLATES folder for the following types of documents:

IDENTITY MATERIALS – This folder will include templates for business cards, letterhead, envelopes, address labels, notecards, etc. You may also want to include your logo and your current photo in this folder.
LEAD GENERATION – You may want to name this folder after your lead generation method. For example, if you have a geographical farm and your farming templates are included here, call it GEOGRAPHICAL FARM. You can also include any niche market information in this folder.
CLIENT CARE AND APPRECIATION – in this folder you can keep track of thank you cards, anniversary cards and keep the templates for them along with templates for your article for your database, annual client review and client appreciation event materials, ideas, and checklists.
OPEN HOUSE – Include your templates, checklist, etc in this folder.
POTENTIAL BUYER CLIENTS – This folder would contain your buyer package and any templates or materials you use to pre-qualify a buyer.
POTENTIAL SELLER CLIENTS – Include template for your seller package and listing presentation materials in this folder along with any pricing templates.
PROPERTY MARKETING – This folder would contain your templates for house flyers, just listed cards, just listed letters, special feature cards, etc.

I recommend having your templates in this folder, but as you customize them for the different transactions you are involved in, save a copy of the customized document to the correct folder.

For example, say you are listing the home of John Smith and you need to make a house flyer. Open your property marketing templates folder and open your house flyer template. Choose “save as” and save it to your SELLERS/ACTIVE/SMITH, JOHN folder with the title “John Smith House Flyer 758 Fern Ct”. This way you have both the client name and address in the title, making searching easy down the road if by some chance you needed to access that flyer but don’t remember when you had that listing.

For lead generation, you may want to have your templates in one folder here with a sub folder for executed lead generation. As in our geographical farming example above, you may want to have a sub folder which contains the mailers you created for the farm by date.

Since your article template will live in your Client Care and Appreciation folder, to keep track of your mailers to your database, you can either save those in a separate folder within this folder or save them in the CLIENTS folder.

Then you may also want to have a document in this folder with printer information. For example, if you got your business cards printed at ABC Printing, include that information, the date you ordered, the price and quantity, and your sales rep information so you have it at your fingertips the next time you order.

The Systems Folder
Inside of this folder, create these sub-folders:

CHECKLISTS – In this folder, you would include your checklists for prequalifying a buyer, making an offer, taking a listing, etc.
TRANSACTION TRACKING – This folder is where you would include your spreadsheet that tracks the transaction, any specific information on title reports or processes, and anything you use to see the transaction from pending to close,  etc.)
LISTINGS – In this folder you would include templates for seller reports, list  of advertising links, showing feedback template, email text for frequently sent emails such as showing feedback, utilities lists to send at end of transaction, weekly listing performance report for agents- looking for good reasons for price reductions, and zoning code lists.
Additional Tips
Now that you have your files set up, here are some additional tips to keep in mind:

MANAGING YOUR FILES
Once you have your filing system set up if it much easier to manage your transactions as you can simply move them from category to category. For example: In each seller or buyer file you keep ALL the paperwork associated with the transaction (or listing). Then you simply move the folder to the correct location: For example: if a seller starts in the “NOT YET LISTED” folder- after it goes active, you move it to “ACTIVE”, after it goes pending, you move it to “PENDING”, then when it’s closed, it goes into the correct year in the closed folder “CLOSED 2015”.

FILE NAMING
Name each signed around document by the date (year FIRST for proper sorting with multi-year transactions) and add the same form term in every transaction i.e. “15-06-03 Mutual PSA” that way you can sort and search easily. If you have a document signed by one part only and are waiting for it to be signed around, DO NOT DATE IT. It would look like this: “UNSIGNED BUYER Seller Disclosure” – that does 3 things, it makes it easy to search for ALL the documents you need signed in all your transactions and it is also easy to see in any given folder and it is easier to sort!

FILE SEARCHING
If you name your files the same each time, you can open your real estate folder and search for the keyword “UNSIGNED” and every document you have saved as UNSIGNED will appear regardless of which folder they are in. You can also search by date “15-06-03” and see every document you rec’d signed around on that date. Furthermore, you can search by form name “Mutual PSA” and see every form of that name you have.

CLOSED FILES
Make sure to ask your broker if there is an office protocol for closing files and keeping a backup. We do not recommend relying on Dropbox or any cloud-based backup unless there is a hard copy backup as well AND the system has been approved for sensitive files. There are many options for external hard-drives to which you can save your files. And remember to backup all of the files on your computer preferably daily which can be done with an auto back up program.

Having a system that keeps you organized is one of the most important performance enhancing things you can do for your business.

For more info visit: http://www.robertjrussell.com
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Dementia’s on the decline–but why?

Posted on March 20, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

Photo: Getty

One of the challenges of longer life expectancies is dealing with an increased number of people suffering from conditions that come with old age, particularly dementia.

But the good news is that just as people are living longer, those who develop dementia do it much later in life than those of previous generations.

A study from the New England Journal of Medicine finds that the average age at which a person is diagnosed with dementia is now 85, up from 80 four decades ago. The study was based on more than 5,000 people over the age of 60 from 1975 until the early part of this decade.

It also found that the overall likelihood of a person developing dementia has declined significantly.

A report from CMS shows many nursing home resident hospitalizations occurred due to preventable events.

In the first five-year period observed, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, 3.6 percent of people developed dementia.

The rate declined in every subsequent period observed; to 2.8 percent in the late 1980s, to 2.2 percent in the late 1990s, and finally to 2.0 percent at the beginning of the 2010s.

The researchers lacked a clear explanation for the consistent improvement.

They therefore did not have much to recommend for further improving the situation. “The factors contributing to this decline have not been completely identified,” they wrote.

In general, better health reduces the chance of developing dementia, but it’s not clear what Americans have gotten right specifically, since there have been plenty of negative health trends during the past 40 years.

“The prevalence of most vascular risk factors (except obesity and diabetes) and the risk of dementia associated with stroke, atrial fibrillation, or heart failure have decreased over time, but none of these trends completely explain the decrease in the incidence of dementia,” explained the researchers.

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Cities you would not want to be a Realtor

Posted on March 19, 2016 by robertjrussellcompanies

While the national headlines report strong growth for the US housing market there is of course regional disparity. WalletHub.com has analysed which cities are the best for a healthy career as a Realtor comparing the 150 most populated cities across 13 key metrics, ranging from sales per agent to annual median wage for real-estate agents to housing-market health index.

The bottom five markets are: Detroit, MI; Columbus, GA; Fayetteville, NC; Jackson, MS; and Brownsville, TX. Meanwhile the best five cities to be a realtor are: Denver, CO; Irvine, CA; Seattle, WA; Austin, TX; and Aurora, CO.

The full report, available at WalletHub.com, reveals a range of stats including:

  • Knoxville, Tenn., has the highest number of sales per agent, 120, which is 20 times more than in Houston, the city with the lowest, 6.
  • Orlando, Fla., has the highest real-estate job density, 32.61, which is 24 times greater than in Detroit, the city with the lowest, 1.35.
  • Indianapolis has the highest annual median wage for real-estate agents, $105,370, which is four times greater than in Wichita, Kan., the city with the lowest, $24,320.

Builder confidence lower this month but future looks bright
Confidence among builders in the market for new single-family homes is lower this month than it was in January. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was down 3 points to 58 from an upwardly-revised 61 in January.

“Though builders report the dip in confidence this month is partly attributable to the high cost and lack of availability of lots and labor, they are still positive about the housing market,” said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady, a home builder and developer from Bloomington, Ill. He said that builders were optimistic that the coming months will see improvement in the market. Sales expectations for the next six months move 1 point higher in the Index.

Daisy Fuentes renting Malibu home
Model and TV host Daisy Fuentes is renting her Malibu home following her recent marriage to singer Richard Marx. The 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom home on Las Flores Beach is available for $25,000 a month. The couple live in Malibu at Marx’s mansion and Fuentes also owns a home in the Hollywood Hills.

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