At first, the concept resembles an identity crisis: a bank designed to look more like a warm and friendly retail store with customer service representatives dressed in casual attire, play areas for children, and a sales area stocked with consumer-oriented financial products such as software, books and magazines. But this is no case of mistaken identity. It’s part of a bigger … [Read more...] about Washington Mutual: Market’s dissatisfied customers are boon for new bank

For Paul Perkins, managing general partner for Colliers International in Reno, selling potential industrial clients on Northern Nevada is an easy job. He talks about the things that attracted him to this area in 1977 — quality of life and the incredible scenery of the Sierras. Then he takes them to places like Montreux and lets the landscape do the rest. Perkins says people … [Read more...] about Paul Perkins: Broker’s jobs include real estate, community boosting

While you can’t predict the future, you certainly can plan for it. And, the best way to ensure that you’ll be fiscally secure is to have in place a sound financial plan. A good plan provides an accurate snapshot of your current financial situation, focuses on your goals and estimates their costs, and then establishes strategies for meeting those goals. What goes into a plan … [Read more...] about A Financial Plan: What’s in it for me?

One-stop shopping for financial transactions is becoming more of a practical reality for investors with recent law changes. On November 12, 1999, President Clinton signed into law the Financial Services Modernization Act. In Nevada, the act affects not only the Secretary of State’s office in the Securities Division, but also the Insurance Division and the Financial Institutions … [Read more...] about Financial Services Modernization

Sight and vision are not the same thing. Sight is a matter of acuity — how clearly you see and the health of your eyes. Vision is determining how to use the images your sight presents to you. A person can have 20/20 sight (ability to see a 3/8-of-an-inch letter from 20 feet away) and still have poor vision. "It’s a learned system," says Dr. Richard Meier, a fellow of the … [Read more...] about VisionTherapy: Seeing the good life

Nevada architects are breaking new ground in designing the state’s commercial real estate, taking their cut from area on the cutting edge of commercial design – such as Southern California – and unveiling a whole new look. With this new look high in demand, old-fashioned builders may be left out in the cold. Here, architects and brokers share their opinions on what’s hot and … [Read more...] about Best in Design Commercial Real Estate: Commercial real estate developers are learning that image is everything when it comes to attracting customers and tenants.

Sunny days continue to dominate Nevada’s economic forecast, but into each life some rain must fall. Even in the desert, even in Nevada. Though economic downturns and recessions are inevitable, it doesn’t mean individual businesses must suffer. The key to weathering such financial storms is preparation, and you don’t have to be a Boy Scout to realize the ideal time for planning … [Read more...] about Preparing Your Business for Recession: Learn to Weather the Hard Times Before They Arrive

On New Year’s Day, 1960, Del Webb Corp. opened the first Sun City community in the country, located in Phoenix, Ariz. The developer expected maybe 5,000 or 10,000 people to show up for the opening. Estimates show that somewhere around 100,000 people were on hand for the event, and more than 250 homes sold that first weekend. But even with that history, when Del Webb Corp. … [Read more...] about Sun City Summerlin: Gambling on Nevada

The Business: Claire’s Flowers Inc., a Las Vegas florist with 10 employees at 4500 W. Charleston Blvd. The shop provides a wide variety of flowers, plants, gourmet baskets and other decorations for special occasions. The Players: Greg and Linda Anderson, who have operated the shop since 1986. The couple inherited the business from Linda’s parents and grandparents, who opened … [Read more...] about Rising from the ashes: Flower shop owners learn to carry on in spite of two fires.

What a thought! Here starts a series of commentaries I will be writing over the next few months. Everyone, including myself, has a complaint or criticism about our current and past presidents. The complaints include things they have, and haven’t done. During the daily course of operating a business, when one encounters problems, a valuable skill is the ability to creatively … [Read more...] about If I Were President: Part One of a Series

According to the government Accounting Office, privatization is commonly defined as "any process aimed at shifting functions and responsibilities, in whole or in part, from the government to the private sector." The most common form of privatization (though there is argument about the label) is contracting out, which typically entails a competition among private bidders. With … [Read more...] about Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Private Companies and Public Services

The name of the street on which I live is not particularly appealing. "Parvin" is probably a long-dead land developer who has unthinkingly condemned me to a phonetic two-step spelling protocol. In the Internet world, the assigned site addresses are even worse. Your "real" Internet address consists of a string of numbers interspaced with periods. This is fine for computers but … [Read more...] about Laying claim to your domain: Failure to procure federal trademark registration could cost you your Internet identity

Is now the right time to get into the stock market? The answer to that query is often necessarily multifaceted. In determining your investment strategy, whether this is the right time to invest isn’t the most important thing to ask. The more significant questions are: 1. What is my risk tolerance, or, how much money am I willing to lose for a chance to obtain a higher rate … [Read more...] about Stock Market Timing: Get invested, stay invested, and do it now

Gambling in Las Vegas is a common affair, one that happens every second of every day. The idea of gambling on Las Vegas is one that some companies view with the same confidence a seasoned gambler would: that in Las Vegas it’s almost always a sure thing. The thing that makes P&D Consultants, a professional planning and engineering consultant firm, different from most … [Read more...] about P&D Consultants: Better communities through better planning and design

Gold started Eureka County and to this day plays an integral part in its economy. With the fall in gold prices of the last few years and with two of the largest gold mines in the country, Barrick Gold Strike Mine and Newmont Gold Company, located there, Eureka County has felt the pinch. Barrick and Newmont, situated in the northern end of the county, employ several thousand … [Read more...] about Eureka County Development Council: Slow growth watchwords of the future for this mining- and agriculture-intensive economy