The world today is driven by emerging technology and innovation. These technologies not only make our lives easier but also have resulted in a competitive business market. The adoption of emerging technologies and innovation in institutions has also strengthened management and governance across all business levels. However, with the numerous emerging technologies, you might be wondering which might be the best to explore. Below are some of the top emerging technologies that show growth opportunities. Internet of Things (IoT) IoT provides a network of embedded physical objects for people to connect and exchange data with other systems. This fuels efficiency in performance by lowering … [Read more...]
A Better Understanding of How IRS Audits Work
As an American citizen, you’re always in fear of making a mathematical error when you're filing your taxes unless you’ve got a professional doing it for you. This feeling of fear can become a lot stronger when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sends you a piece of mail stating that you’re going to be audited. Luckily, knowing how an audit works and the steps you need to take during the audit can help you relieve some of that fear very quickly. The Different Types of Audits While there are quite a few types of audits that the IRS conducts, the most common three that you should expect are the correspondence audit, office audit, and line-by-line audit. Correspondence Audit: This audit … [Read more...]
September Inflation Virtually Unchanged
Annual Inflation Increased Very Slightly Annual Inflation rose from 1.31% in August to 1.37% in September. CPI Index rose from 259.918 in August to 260.280 in September. Monthly Inflation for August was 0.32%, for September it was 0.14. The FED holds steady on Assets and FED Funds Rates. Next release November 12th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in September was 1.37% The CPI index itself was up from 259.918 in August to 260.280. Resulting in a monthly inflation rate of 0.14%. Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in September was up almost imperceptibly from 1.31% to 1.37%. This is a rebound from an astonishingly … [Read more...]
The Price of Oil Denominated in Bitcoin
Over the years we have been saying that it is important to look at prices of various commodities in terms of other commodities. For instance, we have looked at not only the Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices but also the Price of Oil Compared to Gold. Because of the recent volatility of Bitcoin we thought it might be interesting to look at the price of oil denominated in Bitcoin. Back in 2016, we compared Gold vs. U.S. Dollar vs. Bitcoin and recently we published Gold vs. Dollar vs. BitCoin Revisited. Often, depending on the currency that you are accustomed to using and you earn your wages in your view of the price of a commodity can be vastly different. For instance, if your currency is … [Read more...]
How has Venezuela’s Bitcoin experiment Fared?
In early 2018, in an effort to fight a collapsing economy and hyperinflationary currency Venezuela decided to jump on the BitCoin bandwagon and create its own cryptocurrency called the Petro. On December 3rd 2017, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announced the petro in a televised address, stating that it would be backed by Venezuela's reserves of oil, gasoline, gold, and diamonds. Other reports claimed that the initial issue price would be based on the price of oil i.e. 1 Petro = 1 Barrel of Venezuelan oil. On 5 January 2018, Maduro announced that Venezuela would issue 100 million tokens of the petro, for a total value of just over $6 billion. The government stated the pre-sale raised … [Read more...]
A Guide for Business Owners: How to Prepare Your Organization for Inflation
COVID-19 has brought the global economy to its knees and in response, the governments of the world have opened the money printing spigots. The U.S. FED for instance has bought roughly 3 TRILLION in assets this year (labeled "Quantitative Easing 4" on this chart). Many fear that this much "money printing" will result in massive inflation or even hyperinflation. As you can see from the chart below, high inflation rates were the bane of the 1970s and early 1980s when the inflation rate rarely dipped below 4%. By contrast, the period beginning with the new millennium has rarely seen inflation go above 4%. Inflation in the 1970s caused much suffering and business disruption, … [Read more...]
August Inflation Rises
Annual Inflation Increases to 1.31% Annual Inflation rose from 0.12% in May to 1.31% in August. CPI Index rose to 259.918 in August. Monthly Inflation for August was 0.32%, July was 0.51%, June was 0.55%, May was 0.002%, April was -0.67%, March was -0.22%, February was 0.27%. The FED holds pretty steady on Assets and FED Funds Rates. Next release October 13th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in August was 1.31%, up from July's 0.99%. Inflation is still moderate but may be picking up. The CPI index itself was up from 259.101 in July to 259.918 in August. Resulting in a monthly inflation rate of 0.32%. The Moore Inflation Predictor once again … [Read more...]
Gold vs. Dollar vs. BitCoin Revisited
Back in 2016, we compared the properties of three types of currency, i.e. Gold, Dollars (Cash), and Bitcoin. Today we'd like to look at how each has fared since then. Back then, we said that there are 10 factors that make up a good store of value. They are: 1. Scarcity- For something to be considered valuable it can’t be too readily available. 2. Fungibility- Things have to be equal. Rare paintings aren’t fungible a Picasso isn’t exactly the same as a Monet. As a matter of fact, one Picasso isn’t even the same as another Picasso. Artwork isn’t fungible. One dollar bill is pretty much the same as another, one ounce of 24 karat gold is the same as another, one bitcoin is the same as … [Read more...]
July’s Annual Inflation 0.99%
Annual Inflation Still Below 1% Annual Inflation rose from 0.65% in June to 0.99% in July. CPI Index rose to 259.101 in July. Monthly Inflation for July was 0.51%, June was 0.55%, May was 0.002%, April was -0.67%, March was -0.22%, February was 0.27%. The FED may be slowing its "Quantitative Easing" in an effort to prevent hyperinflation. FED Funds Rate up slightly but still remains near Zero. Next release September 11th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in July was 0.99%, June was 0.65%, May was 0.12%, April was 0.33%, March was 1.54% down sharply from February's 2.33% and January's 2.49%. The CPI index itself was up from 257.797 in June to 259.101 in … [Read more...]
3 Factors Causing the Current Gold Rally
A variety of factors affect the price of gold. Currently, many of them are combining to drive the price of gold to all-time record highs. Let's look at a few of the factors that affect the price of gold. 1) Uncertainty- Gold is a Crisis Hedge We have said this many times over the years but it bears repeating again gold is more of a crisis hedge than an inflation hedge. When uncertainty rears its ugly head... gold does well. That uncertainty can take many forms and one of them is "monetary uncertainty". So if people don't know what the value of their money is going to be in the future (i.e. inflation) they will shift some of their assets to gold (driving up the price of gold). So as far as … [Read more...]
