Business

In the past year, public attention about opioid use has been focused on the personal tragedy of those directly affected by addiction and death. In addition to devastating families and communities, however, this attention is also putting a bright light on some huge potential winners – or losers – in the long run: Pharmaceutical companies that make opioids.

The industry’s legal challenges are only now beginning to mount. According to the National Association of Attorneys General, at least 25 states have sued drug manufacturers or wholesale distributors for their role in opioid addiction.

In lawsuits filed this month, Ohio and Missouri accuse companies of deceptive marketing. And most recently, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he would file a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies for misrepresenting the dangers of opioids.

While plaintiffs have yet to put a price tag on their legal claims, it’s not hard to imagine them seeking billions of dollars from companies that make OxyContin and Percocet. Although Purdue Pharma already set a $270 million precedent with its 2007 OxyContin settlement in Virginia, how drug companies will settle these cases is still uncertain.

But one thing is certain: The opioid industry will not be able to use the same strategy that has worked for Big Tobacco companies in the past. And that means they stand a very good chance of losing lots of money.

The reason? Opioid litigation is nothing like tobacco litigation.

For more than 50 years, cigarette makers successfully argued that smokers assumed the risks of smoking and that no product was 100 percent safe. State attorneys general eventually came to believe those claims and settled for billions of dollars.

But opioid litigation is not nearly as clear-cut. The industry’s marketers and salespeople were not as overt as Big Tobacco – and the risks of addiction and overdose were known long before opioids achieved their current grip on millions of Americans.

It’s true, as Purdue pointed out in a statement to the Chicago Tribune, that “prescription opioids medications…have made – and continue to make – an enormous impact on improving the lives of millions of pain sufferers.”

But the industry also used misleading information about how effective opioids are for chronic pain and failed to consider the risks of addiction.

The industry even sought government approval to sell painkillers in higher doses, which appear to be at least part of the reason why prescriptions and opioid overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years.

“Prescription opioids are highly addictive,” says white-collar defense attorney Ken Julian. “Their sales and marketing strategies…seem to have been designed, at least in part, to encourage long-term use of these drugs for chronic pain. That is not consistent with safe prescription of controlled substances.”

So far, legal action has focused chiefly on drug distributors. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently took aim at McKesson, the nation’s largest drug wholesaler, for failing to report suspiciously large orders of opioids. (The company has denied allegations in a lawsuit by the West Virginia attorney general.) Other distributors and pharmacies have also been named in lawsuits.

But Big Pharma faces its own legal challenges. Kentucky is suing Purdue and three other drug companies. Missouri sued four opioid manufacturers in February. And Ohio has sued five manufacturers and two wholesalers since announcing a lawsuit against its opioid distributors in May.

The industry’s legal problems add to the pressure it already faces from government agencies, doctors, and consumers about its role in the opioid epidemic. According to Julian, the industry will find it difficult to defend itself against all of these claims. “To get into a courtroom and argue that they should not be held liable because opioids are valuable, when in fact their marketing has been misleading and deceptive, is going to be an uphill battle,” he said.

“The opioid litigation we’ve seen so far suggests there is a scope of liability that could be quite broad.”

 

Relocating to a new town or city can be a thrilling time in your life. The start of a new chapter is signified when you find the right property for you. Often, it feels like this decision falls into place, and you find the right place when you least expect it.

At the same time, other factors need considering when relocating to a different state. The Midwest is an increasingly popular place to live. Offering idyllic towns and cities, alongside a cheaper cost of living, there is no doubt more people considering a move to this part of the country.

Read on to discover our top tips when moving to the Midwest, in particular, when moving to Missouri.

Decide on a Location

Make a list of places that you feel you would like to live in. Research what housing is like in these areas and compare the prices. Complete adequate levels of research before making the all-important final decision.

Picture yourself and your loved ones in the area. Do you feel comfortable raising your children here? Imagine your belongings in the property you have your eyes on. Personalize the experience and immerse yourself within the location.

Distinguish What Money You Have

Establish what your budget will be and how you will fund the relocation process. Contemplate the factors associated with moving that you will need, and factor these into your budget. Found your dream property but do not have the funds to afford a down-payment? Consult professionals like The Home Loan Expert and explore home refinancing in St Louis.

Use the funds provided by refinancing to put a deposit on a property that you like. Regardless of where you intend to relocate, people like these can assist with this process.

Factor in any potential repair costs you will need to make. Contractors and surveyors assist with this and give an estimation of what these costs will be. Ensure you keep funds aside to cover these costs and those associated. This includes hiring professionals to fix anything that might be wrong with the property you have bought.

Various Other Factors

The pandemic has highlighted the popularity and accessibility of remote working. With more people than ever remote working, the desire to move out of cities and to the countryside has increased. Consider what your working situation will be like when you relocate. Will you keep your current job role or find one in the new area you will be living in?

Establish what the local amenities will offer you and your loved ones and whether they will fulfill your needs and desires. Research local educational institutions for your children while finding suitable doctor’s offices and veterinarians where appropriate.

Missouri has masses to offer both those living there and those who want to. Conduct adequate levels of research and visit the state in person to get a better feel. Move forward with confidence that the decision you are making is the right one for you.

Having a good idea might be enough to start your business. However, you’ll also need a sufficient amount of money to finance and sustain it. Proper financial management stabilizes your business and makes it less susceptible to failure.

In the long run, cash is king and ideas are merely pawns. However, many entrepreneurs fall victim to this trap when they start to focus on operational processes overly. So, always remember that you’re building a business, not a product. Your idea, good or not, may attract some clients, but there’s only one result for poor financial management. That is bankruptcy. On that note, if you’re a business owner looking for essential advice in managing their finances, this article will help.

Don’t Be Wasteful

The integrity of a company is not in its place of business, rather its ledger. Your stylish suit and compelling business story might be convincing to investors. But the ultimate serum is your company’s financial statements. Financial statements record the business activities and performance of every company. As an owner, these statements either prove your efficiency or sloppiness.

Ensuring that every business activity maximizes profit and minimizes cost is vital. For instance, it’s tempting to procure any device for your company’s heating system. But customizing your ductwork can help save your business money in the long run. What you decide to be the best choice in this situation will make all the difference.

Go Digital

Financial management can be hard to get it all figured out. This is especially true when you have papers flying all over your office, with no room in your brain for any additional figures. Therefore, going digital might give you some peace of mind.

Today, business owners can have a mobile device doing all the work of an accountant. With a password or a QR code, many can access their books and record their transactions. Some others have even gone a step further into the very autonomous crypto world. For them, choosing the best cryptocurrency wallet out of the lot was all it required.

The exodus of businesses to the land of digital assets helped eliminate full control from third-party financial providers. With a digital currency like Dogecoin, popularised by Elon Musk, there are no limits to the growth a company’s financial assets can enjoy.

Today, there are several digital wallets to choose from. However, your decision to stick with a particular crypto wallet shouldn’t be paltry. Generally, the best way to invest in crypto is to consider a range of factors like the level of security, financial products, etc. The many different wallets to choose from include Trezor, Coinbase, Mycelium, Ledger Nano X, Ledger Nano S, and Electrum.

Seek Expert Advice

Working out the financial success of your business shouldn’t be a burden for you alone to carry. Even when you have a dedicated team working the numbers for you, it helps to have an expert in your corner. These professionals can proffer essential advice on where, how, and when to make confident financial decisions.

Financial experts have become more indispensable today, where a click of a mobile app’s unique feature is all it takes. As pleasing as the prospects of NFTs and crypto-assets may seem, there are some cons. Perhaps, you’re stuck between Binance and other alternatives for want of the best option.

Think Long Term

Arguably, financial planning might be the only aspect of life where having a bird in the hand is of little importance. The time value of money should be a familiar concept for every entrepreneur. Your business is better off with enough financial knowledge of today and tomorrow. With such insights, you’ll be more comfortable with decisions like trading your company’s stocks using ethereum. Albeit a big win for the future, it might have a nominal present value.

Plan Ahead

Running your business is a forward-ever affair. The journey from garage to IPO begins with a firm foundation and a clear outlook of your company. As a business owner, your future and your finances should be in tandem. That way, you’re better placed in determining whether a staff vehicle is a safe investment today or in three years when you might have gained a significant market share.

Within a company, the finance department may have heard of the accounts payable automation. For those who are still new, of course, and feel confused about what exactly accounts payable automation is? So what is the background? Why should you use it? Are there any advantages? These various questions often arise in the minds of the business people who do not understand but are interested in this software. For more details, below is a little information related to automated accounts payable.

The Background

Accounts payable automation is an attempt to control accounts payable. Where the account payable itself can be interpreted as trade payables which are the company’s obligations to other parties that must be fulfilled in a short period of time. Accounts payable may be owned by a company for several reasons, such as the company buying merchandise on credit.

The purchase of goods is also of course related to the company’s operational activities. In other words, the goods purchased on credit are intended to support the smooth operation of the company so that the company’s goals can be achieved. Purchase of merchandise is intended for resale to consumers. As with debt in general, trade payables of course must also be repaid and repayment must be made in a short time. Accounts payable or accounts payable related to the company’s main business activities.

However, this should be controlled so that the trade payables owed by the company do not swell. Because of the company’s debt swells, over time the company will experience losses. It could even be that the company went bankrupt because it had too many accounts payable. To overcome this, of course, it takes the role of accountants who can make financial reports and accounts payable reports properly to be submitted to the leadership. So that leaders can exercise more control over spending on accounts payable. This is where the importance of the presence of accounts payable automation.

Advantages of accounts payable automation

Accounts payable Automation transactions certainly need to be analyzed carefully, because this is related to the expenditure of money by the company. In other words, every recorded trade payable becomes a reason for the company to spend money. Therefore, trade payables should not be done haphazardly.

With accounts payable automation in a company, the following advantages can be obtained:

• Created managing accounts payable so that the company’s debt does not exceed the limit.
• The amount of accounts payable will affect the company’s expenses. An accountant needs to control or manage accounts payable so that the company’s accounts payable can run properly and effectively.
• Managing accounts payable must be done so that the company’s expenses are not excessive so that companies that carry out accounts payable do not suffer losses.

With the explanation above, it is quite clear that a company needs support assistance who is able to control accounts payable automation better. So the company does not run the risk of loss. Here is also the importance of trying to use Medius. Where it can be useful to control the company’s expenses more thoroughly, including trade payables that are needed in the company later. Not only that, with this technology, it is hoped that the company will also benefit from a more structured and automated system. So that it doesn’t bother the company’s accountants in terms of setting up and implementing accounts payable automation.

Most people believe that investing in real estate is a quick and easy way to improve cash flow. Although returns from real estate are a definite possibility, you need to understand the basic tax strategies for real estate agents if you want to avoid unnecessary taxes.

Did you know that deductions are still one of the best tax benefits in the real estate business? These tax write-offs are applicable for rental properties as well. The costs incurred by property tax, business operating expenses, depreciation, and repairs are eligible for tax write-offs. While it makes sense to read the tips provided by the IRS, wTax Strategies for Real Estate Agentsat you need is tips from tax experts.

Here are five tax tips for real estate businesspersons:

Being Well Organized

The key to getting back the tax money rightfully yours this season is to be organized. Suppose your business is booming and you’re making a lot of profits, the IRS will want to inspect your books; and ask for all receipts and other documents related to your business.

Buying, selling, or refinancing any property last year calls for the escrow company to send you a HUD1 settlement statement. This statement is the final closing one itemizing all charges levied on the seller and borrower. This document has to be included in this year’s tax documents.

Hold Properties for One year or More

Although your business instinct dictates that you should sell when you can make a profit, one of the best tax strategies for real estate agents is to hold the property for a year or more. With investment profit considered capital gains by the IRS, taxing is purely based on the income accrued and how long you own the property.

If you sell before the 12 months, you are liable to pay income tax at 35%. Whereas, when you hold it for more than a year, you pay only capital gains tax at around 15%. Hence, you save a substantial amount in tax by keeping the property for more than a year.

Understand Business Taxes

Suppose you get a lucky break, and there’s a string of property transactions. The IRS’s lens focuses on you, and it won’t consider that as an investment strategy. The IRS will more likely consider it business transactions.

When more than half your earnings are from real estate, they are not taxable under ‘capital gains’ but a regular source of income. Such a classification automatically puts you in a higher tax bracket. And to make things worse, you should pay an additional 15.3% as you are self-employed.

Use Depreciation to your Benefit

Depreciation expense on residential property is deductible as per IRS guidelines under the accelerated cost recovery system. Hence, whatever money you spend on property improvements or renovations, including roof replacement and finishing the basement, can be deducted. The formula for computing it is simple: divide the cost by 27.5 years, and deduct the result from your taxable income for the year.

Before you use any of these tax-saving tips, you need to differentiate between your short and long-term investments. Any property held for less than a year is considered short-term, and the rest are classified long-term.

Hire a Team of Professionals

While following the above tips can be beneficial, the best advice is probably hiring a team of professionals, letting you focus on your core competencies. CPAs know how to help you get back the money you deserve from the IRS. Come tax time. It is better to leave it to trained professionals who have enough knowledge and experience in the tax domain. The fees you pay your tax consultant are negligible when compared to your savings on taxes.

Summing it Up

Despite all the tips you get on saving on taxes, it makes better sense to hire a professional to handle the IRS on your behalf. The trick lies in avoiding tax and not in evading it.

If you are responsible for some kind of marketing in the real estate industry, this information is for you. Perhaps you are a real estate agent responsible for attracting clientele for your broker business, or a real estate investor with thousands of properties in your portfolio. Or perhaps you are a marketing representative looking to constantly create leads.

It doesn’t matter. The principles to accomplish your marketing goals are all the same. What does matter, however, is that you are committed to challenges presented by this competitive world.

What does matter is whether you are willing to communicate, listen and share your goals on whatever platform you find comfortable and convenient. And it does matter that you are doing things that would work for the long-term benefits of your goals.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing fits in the smaller as well as bigger scheme of things. You can make social media your hub to advertise your real estate listings, drive traffic to your official sites and leverage different advertising features that the media websites provide.

Social media websites such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, allow you to build your own community of fans and followers, establish expertise and build credibility along the way. Take a video or picture of your real estate event and share it with your list on social media. Play around with colorful captions, emojis, and drawings.

Once you have learned the various features of a social media website, you can transform your business into attraction magnets. Potential customers crave social proof. They are more likely to take action when people are talking about the subject and taking action themselves.

Testimonials from past clients, stories establishing your reputation, interviews with customers, pictures, and videos of your real estate portfolio, all attract fresh customers. The possibilities are endless.

There are some online platforms that are big power players for the real estate industry. And plenty of others arrive on the scene, only to fizzle out when the seasonal popularity wears off.

So, how is a real estate agent to know which of the platform they should spend their time building a presence on, and what platforms are to be ignored? For your convenience, Redfin, Zillow, and Trulia have been on the market for many years and growing strong year after year. Their features are getting better with time as well.

They have some solid usability statistics and plenty of users around the country, so are likely to stay for the long haul. You should also take into consideration how each one of these platforms fits into your overall marketing strategy.

Word of Mouth

We have seen that social media websites in today’s world let you do incredible things when it comes to marketing your real estate business. Does this mean traditional marketing like getting the message out through word of mouth is over? Certainly not.

It has, in fact, evolved to a great extent. Each morning you can listen to NPR where broadcasters are advertising various homes, commercial establishments, and lands for sale and asking people to take action. Whether this action is to visit an open house or contact the builder to explore more options, the goal of word-of-mouth advertising strategy has always been the same – to convert listeners to leads.

You can also spread your real estate marketing message through casual conversations, with your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, even strangers. You will be surprised to find out that pure gossip is a powerful tool for reaching prospects and clients.

To that end, it’s also a way to learn your potential customers’ most pressing challenges, and build enduring relationships while turning strangers into lifetime clients.

Sending Letters and Postcards

Sending letters and real estate postcards to your audience is the offline equivalent of your official website. It’s not enough to have just an online presence. People expect that you are a real person and your business a real one, and postcards and letters are the best way to showcase the same.

Let us say you have a very well-designed website that is being visited by hundreds of users on a daily basis. So are the websites of dime a dozen other businesses. However, if you are reaching out to your potential clients by mailing business cards, sending newsletters, or even greeting cards wishing them on special occasions, they will see a major connection between your online presence and your public persona. If you are easily findable through the return address on the mailings, they are likely to contact you without hesitation.

Forget who you are targeting for the moment. Most people don’t want marketers heavily skewed to marketing tactics, which means you will have to make some adjustments to your message. How about sending a birthday card or present in appreciation of their time? They are sure to remember your thoughtfulness and respond accordingly.

Community Involvement

The majority of potential customers will not do business with you right away. It is your job to make sure that you are giving them choices to allow you to keep in touch with them. Community involvement is a great way to stay in touch with your prospects. There are many ways you can participate in your own community.

You can set up a booth in a special event or seek permission from your city to conduct a periodical demonstration of your products and services. Being available in person like this is very much about transparency. It is much more about giving your prospects a glimpse into your business in real-time.

In other words, the events are your chance to show your prospects that you are real and to build trust with them. People trust businesses with whom they can come into contact more than they trust some random online presence.

Think strategically about the type of community event you want to take part in. Share your ideas, information, and services through one-on-one conversation. Get your message across, face-to-face. And if you have put effort into marketing your business through such events, don’t forget to respond to post-inquiry. Take the time to continue with the conversations you have inspired and engaged in.

Final Thoughts

Finally, perform your real estate marketing task on other platforms as well. Don’t confine that excellent demo and testimonials to one channel. Let your fans and followers see what they are missing out on, so they will be compelled to reach out to you irrespective of the mode of communication. The more ways you are able to connect with your prospects, the better.