Why you should send clients a thank-you gift in the build-up to major events

TweetWhile occasions like Easter and Christmas tend to be when you exchange gifts among friends and family members, it’d be a shame if your company chose not to give presents to its clients too.

Admittedly, sending gifts to customers may not be the first thing that springs to mind as the event in question approaches, but doing so can help you establish and build strong customer relationships.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of distributing presents to clients in the run-up to special events is that it enables you to give them a token of thanks for recent business as well as, potentially, getting in touch when they’re making or planning spending decisions.

Of course, it’s easy to send a letter or make a phone call to a client to express your thanks for a recent order or contract award, but to make a really powerful statement it’s worth sending a gift. Going that extra mile should be appreciated by recipients and will help them remember your brand in the future.

Research from the British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) shows 56 per cent of those receiving promotional gifts claim to feel more positively about the company that gave them the gift. There’s even a chance it might sway a client’s purchasing decision.

The BPMA’s research also indicates that 87 per cent of recipients keep a promotional gift for at least a year. This means your brand, slogan and contact details are likely to get repeated exposure, particularly if recipients use the promotional gift regularly. What’s more, if you distribute promotional gifts that are particularly useful or desirable – they may get passed on to friends, family or colleagues. A printed mug left in the office break out area might get used by several colleagues. A printed shopping bag might be used by the recipients’ family during the weekly shopping trip.

But exactly which products make for effective gifts? In the same way as you’d buy presents for your loved ones, it’s important to choose products that will be suitable for your clients (as well as being within budget). A travel mug might be well-received by an outdoor enthusiast; an iPad case might be preferred by a gadget lover.

One form of promotional merchandise that has universal appeal is promotional pens. Even in a time where gadgets like smartphones and tablets are increasingly used in offices, pens are something that most of us use every single day. Pens come in handy to record notes of a meeting, write cheques, pass on telephone messages to colleagues, or simply jot down a shopping list at home. Retail brands such as Parker and Cross sell promotional pens that can be personalised with a printed or engraved message. Some pens can be bought as part of a gift set; others include a presentation box.

Do you work in an organisation that distributes promotional gifts to clients to celebrate particular milestones or in the build-up to events like Christmas? We’d love to hear what products have been well-received by your client base. Please leave us a comment below!

What are 130/30 Funds and How Do They Work?

What Does 130/30 Mean?

A 130/30 fund is named after its portfolio. The fund buys stock worth 100% of the amount invested. Then it sells short, or sells stock it does not own to make money on it falling in value, stocks worth 30% of the fund. After selling stock short, the fund has money from those sales, which it invests in buying stock.

So, the fund invests 130% of the portfolio value in stocks it thinks will go up in price. It also invests 30% of the amount invested in stocks it thinks will go down in price. The net effect is that for every $1 you invest you get $1.60 in stock market positions.

Do 130/30 Funds Post Higher Returns

You would think that because a 130/30 fund uses leverage that it would return more money to investors than funds that do not use leverage. This has not been the case.

The stock market tends to move together. Meaning stocks are either up or down, and most stocks will follow what every other stock is doing in the short term. What happens is that when the stock market is up, the fund makes money on the 130% long investments, but loses money on the 30% short investments. So the total performance isn’t different from a 100% long-only fund.

Also, selling short adds a lot of research costs and transaction costs, which pass through in the form of fees. High fees erode performance.

All in all, most financial professionals think the 130/30 fund is just a gimmick to take more of your money in fees. This is backed up by the fact that 130/30 funds do not seem to perform any differently than 100% long-only funds (most mutual funds are 100% long-only), and yet they cost more to hold and often lead to higher tax bills for investors.

While the 130/30 fund sounds interesting and alluring, it’s not worth your money!

Why You Should Refinance a Car Loan at a Lower Rate

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TweetDo you have a car loan?

Do you know what the interest rate is? And do you know how much it would be if you refinanced?

Most people don’t know that low rates are good for refinancing more than just home mortgages. Refinancing a car also makes sense when the interest rates are low enough. Here’s how you can decide whether or not it makes sense to refinance a car loan:

Can you pay it off now? Let’s start with the basics. If you can afford to just pay off the auto loan, skip the refinance idea – pay it off! Car loans still cost you money in the form of interest, plus you have to keep more insurance on yourself for accidents that you might have as a term in the loan.

Can you keep the same term? Don’t refinance if your only choice is to make your car loan last longer. Refinance for a lower rate only if you can get a 24 month loan to match the 24 months you have left, or a 36 month loan to match 37 months left of payments. Don’t refinance just to push off paying off your loan – it’ll cost you in the long run.

Can you save more than $100? If the total savings over the life of the loan add up to more than $100, the deal is worth it. I refinanced my car loan once in less than 30 minutes just by stopping by the lending desk on my way out of my credit union. The savings added up to more than $400 over the life of the loan just because I was willing to ask about lower rates and auto refinances.

Do you have a promotional rate? If you have a promotional rate from a car lot of 0.9-2.9% interest, you’re unlikely to beat that rate at a third-party bank. Don’t bother refinancing if you used a promotional rate at the time of purchase because promotions are just that: promotions. They’re marketing tactics used to sell cars by making the interest cheaper than it should be. No bank can match promotional offers.

Make the Call!

If you haven’t ever refinanced a car loan, start thinking about it. With rates at record lows for at least one more year you have a shot to save a significant amount of money in interest on your car loan. Remember, when you save small amounts of money it is the same as having a lot of money in the bank when interest rates are low!

Refinancing a car is one of the easiest ways to make (by saving) a few hundred dollars just by filling out a few pieces of paper. I don’t know about you, but I have never made more than a few hundred dollars by filling out a few forms.

So, if you have a car loan, and you’re likely to keep it, now is the time to think about refinancing it to save some money.

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