So I started to search around for ways solutions  I came across a company that was referred to me a few years ago, Trinet.  Trinet offers HR services as a PEO (professional employment organization).  People often refer to this as employee leasing.  Think of it as hiring whoever you want through a temp agency like Kelly Services.  They take care of all the tax and insurance paperwork, and you just pay the agency a fee as a vendor.  The fee was relatively small at $1,860 per employee, per year, so I decided that this would be the best of both worlds.  

The Sign Up Process for Trinet

I have to say that of all the vendors I have ever worked with, none seemed so utterly incompetent as Trinet when it came to the sign up process.  They would send over documents without instructions, or that were dated wrong.  They would lose stuff I sent.  The best part is that I would go through long spurts of not hearing from them, after confirming that everything was ready to go, and then all of  sudden get a flurry of emails from them marked as urgent, saying they needed more paperwork from me.

Once, and I swear this is true, I was told weeks before that we were truly ready to go.  There would be no further delays.  A couple days before the payroll date, I contacted my rep there to ask about the amount they would be taking out. I didn’t hear back.  But then , a day or two before payday, I get around 3 - 4 emails, all marked urgent, saying I need to call them right away.  I happened to be out of town, so I didn’t get these messages until around 2pm.  I called the main rep, she wasn’t around.  So I called another rep I had dealt with, who had also emailed me saying I needed to call him and that it was urgent.  When I got a hold of him and asked what they needed, he said, I and I swear this is true, he didn’t know.  So they had spent most of the morning trying to reach me, but didn’t know why.  I asked him if my payroll was going to go out.  He didn’t know.  

Payroll didn’t go out that week, so once again I had to scramble to cut checks myself.  This went of for literally months.  The best part is, they charged me retroactively for this time with the insurance.  Insurance my employees weren’t aware they had.  We had received no ID cards or selected any plans yet.  But of course I had to pay for it.  

The ongoing problems with Trinet

Since we worked out those initial issues, I would love to say things have gotten better, but I cannot.  Each pay period is an exercise in patients, and comes with it’s own little set of grief.  I have asked Trinet on numerous occasions to send me an email letting me know the exact dollar amount they attend on deducting.  I set up a bank account specifically for payroll, and I need to transfer the funds into that account.  Each time I ask, I’m assured that invoices are sent out ahead of time.  The closest this has come unsolicited was last pay period when I got a notice after 3:30pm that funds would be taken out the next day.  I got a follow up email from Trinet the next morning that they were unable to get the funds.  So despite me asking for several days notice, I couldn’t even get a 24 hour notice.  

One of the documents I filled out was to my bank, allowing Trinet to request a funds transfer.  I had this hand walked into my banker, as well as got Trinet a copy incase of any issues.  My bank has done things like this for me in the past without incident.  And there have been no incident on the money transfer issue until this past payment.  All of a sudden, after 3 - 4 consecutive successful transfers, Trinet is reporting my bank will not honor the request.  They tell me this on Christmas eve and they want me to go to the bank “right away” to wire the fund manually.  I explained to them that I was on vacation with my family and that they needed to work this out with the bank directly (that’s why they have a copy of that document), but for some reason it was determined that the easiest way for this to be handled was to have me go down to the bank on Christmas Eve.  By the time we went back and forth on this, it was late enough that going to the bank was not an option.  So they said I could cut my vacation short and go on the 26th.  

Trinet had not real response to my question about why my bank would not honor the document I gave them.  They just decided that it was too much trouble I guess.  So as of now, employees checks have not been cut.  

For the sake of not rambling on forever, I have actually not gone into other issues I have encountered with Trinet.  I have not gone into the fact that none of the amounts they deduct make a lot of sense.  But they are so screwed up, I know that if I open that can of worms, it will never be solved.

I do have to say that the main rep I deal with there, Angela, is quite nice.  I feel genuinely bad when I start bitching about things to her because she clearly doesn’t control any of it.  But she doesn’t strike me as overly surprised with all these issues.  I get the feeling this must happen a lot.  

There have also been issue with their website when trying to make changes for employees, or anything else.  They brag that their technology is based around Peoplesoft.  As someone who has worked with Peoplesoft, I know that’s not something to brag about.  I have never seen a successful Peoplesoft implementation.  And I don’t believe Trinet has either.  It’s a crap system, and is likely the cause to much of Trinet’s issues.  

So if you’re looking for something to make Hr a little more simple, I would not look at Trinet.  I spend an obscene amount of time dealing with their issues, and apologizing to employees, which is exactly the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing.  You’re better off looking to your bank or other places.  I’m not saying that PEO’s or employee leasing is a bad model, I’m just saying that Trinet is not a company I would recommend trusting with your business.  

The founder of Weblogs, Inc, and one of the biggest mouths on the social media space, has laid off a large part of the staff from his latest start-up, Mahalo.  Now Gawker is reporting that he took the 9 remaining employees of his Web directory on a trip to Disneyland.

I’m not going to jump on the Calcanis bashing bandwagon.  I meet Jason once, and he was a total ass to me, so I have my own issues with the guy.  I have also met some people who work for Calcanis, and they’re not very found of him either.  But I do have to say that when you keep spreading your unsolicited opinion about everyone else, you’re bound to take some hits when you screw up.

I try to keep in mind that success is almost always fleeting.  Nothing is ever as good or bad as it seems.  Sometimes I forget that, and then I would read some arragont rant coming from Jason Calcanis, and I would try to put things back into perspective for myself.  

For what it’s worth, Weblogs, Inc was a fantastic business play by Calcanis.  And I like the ambitious nature of Mahalo.  

Yet, work can be and often is stressful too. As a result many people feel unable to cope with the circumstances of their jobs. “The relationship that people have with their work, and the difficulties that can arise when that relationship goes awry, have been long recognized as a significant phenomenon of the modern age” (Maslach, Shaufeli, & Leiter, 2001, p. 397). 

Stress Theory and Job Burnout

One of the most prevalent theories of job burnout is that people for many reasons become completely ‘stressed out’ (in the popular vernacular). Yet, this popular phrase carries with it a very serious set of complicated reasons why people begin to have difficulty coping with their job. For some people it is the complexity of their jobs. For example, a surgeon who works long hours and has peoples’ lives in his/her hands every day can be enormously stressful. Another prime example would be a social worker who deals with the hard core issues of society such as child abuse, family violence and the general breakdown in peoples’ lives. For those of us looking from the outside in, it is not difficult to understand why people who work in these demanding professions experience burnout. However, job burnout is not limited to these demanding professions. This is why the stress theory becomes so valuable. 

“Stress refers to psychological, physical and behavioural responses  to work-related demands over a discrete or short-term period” (Skinner & Roche, 2005, p. 5). These authors state that sometimes people equate stress with burnout, but it is important to understand they are two different experiences. Stress can lead to burnout, but it is not burnout. “Burnout is a long-term process characterised by “chronic malfunctioning” and negative and cynical attitudes towards clients and work in general” (Skinner & Roche, 2005,  p. 5). The fact is that many people and perhaps all people experience some form of stress in their job. There are, as noted above, some jobs where stress is endemic to the nature of the position. Then, there are jobs where stress accumulates over times and thus leads to the possibility of burnout. 

The presence of stress in our lives is an obvious reality. However, when stress begins to accumulate and exists for a prolonged period of time, there is the possibility that people will develop job burnout. Some of the factors that can lead to the accumulation of stress are the presence of an ineffective manager, organizational dysfunction, poor inter-office communications, overload of work, the commitment of the company or organization to its employees and the presence or absence of job satisfaction. People who work in environments where any one of these factors are present will be at risk for exposure to a stressful environment. Employees who experience a combination of these factors will be at an even higher risk for job burnout.

One of the key factors in the accumulation of stress is that of the level of commitment between employee and employer. Individuals who do not feel a commitment to their organization, perhaps even find a clash of values, will find themselves at odds with their employer. This situation can lead to an accumulation of stress as employer and employee will eventually develop a combative relationship. 

Another factor in the accumulation of stress on the job is the imbalance between demands on the job and resources available to do the job. “High levels of demand are primarily responsible for stress and burnout. Specifically, high demands produce emotional exhaustion which leads to a defensive coping strategy in which individuals attempt to distance themselves from the emotional stressors associated with a demanding workload” (Skinner & Roche, 2005, p. 12). The result of this situation is that an employee begins to emotionally distance themselves from their job. The person feels a low level or even a total lack of commitment to the work. The availability of resources is extremely important because resources are not just objects such as technology but also emotional resources such as personal support, rewards for a job well done, performance incentives and regular, appropriate performance feedback or review. 

In a Canadian study of oncology professionals, the presence of stressors on the job did not relate to the nature of the job itself.  Rather, the presence of stress was very similar to the description offered by Skinner and Roche. The employees at Cancer Care Ontario (a provincial clinic for treating people with cancer) responded to feeling highly stressed when the workload was out of balance with the resources available to do their job. Some of the factors in the development of stress were insufficient staff to respond to patient needs, conflicting demands on staff time, overly demanding workload, and the disruption of home life due to an overly demanding job. In the case of Canadian oncology workers many are finding the job so stressful that burnout is not the only result. Some workers want out of the care system. “Our findings support the concern that medical oncology personnel in Ontario are experiencing burnout and high levels of stress and that large numbers of staff are considering leaving or decreasing their work hours. Burnout is understood to be a pattern” (Grunfeld et al, 2000, p. 168). 

The Skinner and Roche study (2005) points to another important factor in the accumulation of stress – the lack of the ability to balance one’s work and home life. Many employees (as noted in the Canadian study) experience a sense of ‘spillover’ from their work into their personal life. This can express itself in many different ways, the need to serve in an emergency capacity (such as a doctor or therapist), the presence of role ambiguity and the need to bring an extensive amount of work home to complete, shift work that becomes disruptive, and the presence of a manager or supervisor who continually pressures an employee to work long overtime hours. Any of these factors can lead to the accumulation of a great deal of stress. The higher the stress level, the more likely it is that an individual will begin to experience job burnout. 

The presence of a healthy working environment is also a significant factor in the accumulation of stress on the job. Many people work in dangerous environments. Some people work in an inherently safe environment but the physical environment is uncomfortable. Skinner and Roche (2005) state: 

In addition to safety and physical security, a pleasant working environment can also have a signifi cant impact on worker morale. For example, adequate space, light, equipment and physical location (e.g., proximity to transport, cafes and other services) are important aspects of a pleasant physical working environment  (p. 15). 

There are many additional factors that can lead to the accumulation of stress on the job, which ends up in job burnout. They include the following: social and emotional support on the job, the ability to relate in a positive way to one’s colleagues, recognition of a person’s skills and abilities, the freedom to express one’s opinions and ideas, flexible working conditions when necessary and good benefits. Job burnout can be a reaction to the relationship between the individual and their working environment (Skinner & Roche, 2005). When an individual feels that relationship does not work, or has become dysfunctional then stress begins to accumulate and the accumulation of stress ultimately leads to job burnout. 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Job Burnout

Maslow’s theory of needs can also shed light on the development of job burnout. This famous list of thirteen needs ranging from our lowest physiological needs to the highest need of self-actualization provides us with insight into the ways in which people can relate to their work environment. “Conventional human resources theories, developed more than 50 years ago by Maslow and Herzberg, suggest that satisfied employees tend to be more productive, creative and committed to their employers’ (Paleologou et al, 2006). 

The second highest and the highest needs are identified as self-esteem and self-actualization. They are defined respectively as: “Our needs for achievement, adequacy, recognition, status, appreciation, and mastery” (self-esteem) and “Our need to actualize our potential as humans. Because each of us is unique, this need expresses itself uniquely for each individual” (Brenner,  2008). 

With respect to job burnout, it is not difficult to see the relationship between Maslow’s theory and the existence of burnout. In Maslow’s theory, a person’s highest need is to feel a sense of actualizing our true potential. For an individual in a job that is beneath their abilities or skill level, unchallenging, unsatisfying, and perhaps even boring, the person could easily begin to dissociate themselves from the job. The person’s level of commitment begins to decline and eventually they are just ‘going through the motions’. The job becomes a chore and not a place to actualize their creative needs and desires. The person keeps going simply because they have to make money (i.e. pay the bills). However, the person feels inherently unsatisfied and their performance begins to decline. 

In terms of self-esteem, once again it is not difficult to see the relationship between the need for recognition, status and achievement and job burnout. The modern workplace is one with an unfortunate reality. This reality is that many workers are caught in meaningless jobs. There are literally millions of workers stuck in factory jobs, working as cashiers or in fast foods where they feel undervalued and underappreciated. Their daily work life provides absolutely no recognition for their talents and abilities. However, the person may not have had the opportunity for a solid education. As a result, this person works in their job with absolutely no sense of reward or achievement. 

In a study conducted in Alaska Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is stated as important in understanding job satisfaction and job burnout. “…it provides a classification system for human needs, but also because it provides concrete implications for managing these needs with complex organizations” (“Factors Influencing Retention”, 2004, p. 19). One of the implications of the hierarchy is even more basic than this. The theory is that if a person’s basic needs are not met by their job than they have absolutely no chance to meet their higher needs. In other words, Maslow’s theory suggests that our jobs must meet a long list of needs from basic physiological needs up to and including our highest need of self-actualization. If a job does not provide this then people begin to dissociate from their work and there is the possibility of job burnout. 

People who work on job sites where the basic needs are met but the higher needs are not met are at just as much risk as those whose lower needs are not met. The study suggests that in both cases people feel unfulfilled and become ‘disgruntled workers’. The job becomes increasingly less important and job burnout is the result. (“Factors Influencing Retention”,  2004).

In a study on correctional officers in Texas, the hierarchy is considered an important theoretical orientation for understanding job burnout. This study points out that the hierarchy of needs does not just mean the needs of employees but managers and supervisors. If a manager is feeling burned out, or they are in a situation where their needs are not being, their ability to provide appropriate support for the people they supervise is likely to be compromised. The research suggests that the manager/supervisor must feel a sense of self-esteem and self-actualization on the job. When the manager does feel this way then he or she is in a position to respect and understand the ways in which the hierarchy of needs applies to other employees (Cardenas, 2007). 

People who have risen to the level of manager or supervisor may seem to be inherently self-actualized. However, the study points out this is not necessarily true. A manager can actually end up simply being a ‘mouthpiece’ for a company and thus become resentful of their position in the company. Cardenas (2007) also points out that when the needs of the manager are being met, they are more likely to want to meet the needs of others. If not, the manager is too busy trying to get their own needs met to think about anyone else’s needs. In this situation, the employees are left to their own devices and job burnout can be the result. 

Maslow’s theory suggests that people are constantly driving to meet this hierarchy of needs. Therefore, if we cannot meet our own needs, all we can think about is how to achieve that goal. The goals of others become immaterial and unimportant. To expound on this further, a manager who is too busy trying to get his or her needs met becomes completely uninvolved with the people he or she supervises. The manager is being driven entirely by their own ambition which is not getting their needs met. They too can dissociate with the workplace and become disinterested in anything but trying to get out of the workplace and move on to a new job. The need to meet their own satisfaction is primary and everything else is secondary. 

Employees who are faced with a dissociative manager will likely become disinterested in their own job. The employees will literally have no one to relate to when it comes to their own needs. In this scenario, both manager and employees are disgruntled and this leads to job burnout for either, or both. With respect to Maslow’s theory of the need for self-esteem, this study provides valuable information from workers in the correctional system who suffer because of managers who are too busy trying to get their own needs met to provide proper supervision for their employees. The correctional system is one of the most demanding job fields in the nation. Employees can easily feel down on themselves working amongst a group of individuals who are considered the ‘scourge of society’. If they are not provided with that sense of doing a good job, and providing a valuable service, it is easy to see how they can experience job burnout. 

However, Maslow’s theory really applies to anyone on any job. There is hardly an individual who goes to work and does not want to feel good about themselves in the job. There is a constant need for us as individuals to be recognized as working hard and fulfilling the needs of our employers. This makes people feel useful and valued. Maslow’s theory enables us to see the importance of this continued recognition. The absence of this recognition can easily make individuals feel taken advantage of and undervalued. These feelings in turn can turn into a sense of being useless, unimportant and this turns to job burnout. 

Motivation and Job Burnout

Another valuable theory in the research on job burnout is that of motivation. However, motivation is a complex idea. There are many ways to feel motivated on the job. One researcher suggests that motivation is not an intrinsic factor in employees. In other words, we are motivated to work by the financial need, but people, in general need to be motivated. This theory is, in some respects, the opposite of Maslow’s hierarchy. The motivational theory suggests that this is an external and not an internal factor. People who take on a specific job want to be treated in a way that motivates them to do well, to succeed and attain increasingly higher levels of achievement. Rubin (2006) states that it is incumbent upon the employer to motivate the workforce. “What incentives and rewards can we use to keep them motivated to enjoy their jobs and stay with our company? Particularly, how do we do this with a multigenerational employee base?”

This theory suggests that most people come into work with the sense of what’s in it for me? In terms of this approach, the theory states that people are seeking to be treated in such a manner that they will want to be achiever. However, people don’t go into a job with the intrinsic need to achieve. In this theory, the employer must provide incentives to keep people on the job. If the employer does not, then employees become dissatisfied. After a period of time, the employee will do increasingly less work, become disgruntled and this results in a total dissatisfaction. Once a person is completely dissatisfied, they are at high risk for job burnout. The person becomes a clock watcher and merely puts in time. The employee no longer has any emotional or intellectual connection with their work. The job is simply another chore.

Another aspect of this theory is that every generation sees motivation in a different way. “Each generation has a different set of values and needs, which means you will need to get creative with incentives and rewards” (Rubin, 2006). Some of the incentives identified include: monetary rewards, flexible schedules, bonus programs, annual increases, daycare programs, professional development, client recognition, promotions, tuition reimbursements and tickets to special events or concerts (Rubin, 2006).  However, there is not always the need for strictly monetary rewards. Some employees are touched when a manager says thank you for a job well done. In today’s increasingly technological workplace, a manager who walks up to an employee and shakes their hand is far more personal and meaningful than an email that says ‘good job’. 

Some researchers suggest that motivation is more of an internal factor that can still be influenced by external factors. “…managers can satisfy employees so they become motivated and of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex, since motivation is influenced by both financial and non-financial incentives” (Paleologou et al,  2006). In this understanding of motivational theory, the factors that motivate people are constantly changing. At certain points in our lives we may be strongly motivated by money and the desire to save for our futures. There will be other times in our lives when we are strongly motivated by the need to succeed and be professionally recognized. This same study states that job satisfaction and job motivation are often used as interchangeable terms, but this is a mistake. 

Job satisfaction is a person’s emotional response to his or her job condition, whereas motivation is the driving force to pursue and satisfy needs. The need for motivation stems from the need for survival and motivated employees help organizations survive 

      (Paleologou et al,  2006).

Another definition of work motivation reads as follows: “…a set of energetic forces that originate within as well as beyond an individual’s being. It is a psychological process resulting from the reciprocal interaction between the individual and the environment that affects a person’s choices, effort, and persistence” (Latham & Ernst, 2006, p. 181).  This definition suggests that motivation is an inter-connected dynamic that exists between employer and employee. One can assume therefore that when the environment and/or the interaction impact negatively on the worker then their motivational level will decrease and job burnout can be one of the results. 

An additional aspect to motivation theory is that of job design. The premise here is that the way in which a person’s job is constructed can affect their level of motivation. For example, people most often accept a job with very specific ideas in mind about what they expect from the job and what they believe will be expected from them. Any deviance or difference in those expectations can quickly cause a problem with worker motivation. One of the key issues in job design is that of time. People also take jobs with a very specific notion of how much time will be required to do their job. Most people want to be able to do their job within the confines of the work week. When this variable changes, there can be a huge problem with worker motivation. Employees who find they often have to work late, take work home and/or work on the weekends will quickly be at risk for job burnout. Their motivation to do the job becomes increasingly less with time as they find themselves saddled with far too much work. “The failure to include time in job design theory may limit the theory’s ability to accurately predict individual attitudes and behaviors in organizations…” (Fried et al, 2007, p. 912). 

In addition to the notion of time, other aspects of job design that are extremely important to worker motivation are perceptions of advancement opportunities, perceptions of job stimulation, and the need for personal growth on the job. Each of these can serve as prime motivators in the workplace. Once again it might seem tempting to describe these factors as job satisfaction, but that has already been defined. Job stimulation, the presence of opportunities for growth and advancement can impact on the ways in which a person reacts to their job on a daily basis. Employees who feel they are stuck in a ‘dead end job’ will certainly feel less motivated to work harder. 

In this theory, career stages is also an important factor. An individual who spends many years on a job with no advancement opportunities and no chance for growth will certainly be at risk for burnout. People who go to work and know intrinsically that their hard work can reap substantial rewards are more likely to feel motivated and less likely to experience job burnout. According to one research study the following factors increase a person’s chances of feeling motivated. 

The increased complexity in one’s job due to crafting may involve, for example, voluntarily learning new skills (higher skill variety) that would enable the employee to handle new assignments; accepting increased responsibility for the totality of assignments (higher task identity), or taking on increased latitude in decision making (higher autonomy).

        (Fried et al, 2007, p. 918).

While there is not an abundance of literature on job design and motivation, this certainly appears to be a promising area of research in terms of understanding workplace motivation and the risk for burnout.

CONCLUSION

Each of these three theories holds some promise for increasing our understanding of why job burnout occurs. The accumulation of stress on the job leaves people feeling exhausted, over-worked and often unappreciated. When this stress level becomes too high, it is easy to see that people can experience job burnout. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there is an intrinsic understanding that people need to feel a sense of self-esteem and self-actualization. People want to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts, and they want to succeed. For those individuals who do not have these factors present in their jobs, work can become a place where they feel unappreciated and under-valued. In motivation theory, people need to receive a sense of incentives for their work. People want to go to work and know they will earn good money, and a wide range of emotional and monetary benefits. Each of these theories provides us with insight into why people experience a sense of dissatisfaction with work and are at risk for job burnout.

References

Brenner, R. (2008).  The hierarchy of needs for project organizations.  http://www.chacocanyon.com/essays/hierarchyofneeds.shtml#ReducingResources(accessed 04 May 2008). 

Cardenas, A. G. (2007).  Motivational challenges for command staff: motivating the unmotivated supervisor. The National Institute of Corrections.  www.tcsheriff.org/training/motivationalchallenges-cardenas.pdf, (accessed 04 May 2008). 

Factors Influencing Retention and Attrition of Alaska Community Health/Aides Practitioners. (2004). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. nursing.uaa.alaska.edu/acrh/projects/report_chap-retention.pdf, (accessed 04 May 2008). 

Fried, Y. et al. (2007). Job design in temporal context: a career dynamics perspective.  Journal of Organizational Behavior. 28, 911-927.

Grunfeld, E., et al. (2000). Cancer care workers in Ontario: Prevalence of burnout, job stress and job satisfaction. Journal of the Canadian Medication Association, 163(2), 166-169. 

Latham, G. P. & Ernst, C. T. (2006). Key to motivating tomorrow’s workforce. Human Resources Management Review, 16, 181-198. 

Maslach, C., Shaufeli, W., & Leiter, M.P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422.

Paleologou, V., et al. (2006).  Developing and testing an instrument for identifying performance incentives in the Greek health care sector. Journal of Translational Medicine, 6, 118.  http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/6/118, (accessed 04 May 2008). 

Rubin, K. (2006). Motivation by generation. Collector,  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5315/is_200607/ai_n21401708. (accessed 04 May 2008). 

Skineer, N., & Roche, A. (2005). Stress and burnout. Australia’s National Resource Center on AOD Workforce Development. www.nceta.flinders.edu.au, (accessed 04 May 2008). 

New hotels like the Palazzo are practically giving away rooms while laying off employees.  Older hotels are facing the very real possibility of going under.  In a bad economy, it’s not a surprise that one of the first things cut might be gambling trips to Sin City.  

Few can take advantage of the situation.  Phil Ruffin is one of the few.  Phil is not newbie to Las Vegas investing.  He paid $167 million for the New Frontier back in 1998.  9 years later, he flipped that property for a nearly 10x return.  Ruffin is also partnered up with Donald Trump on the Trump International Hotel and  Tower.  And now, Phil Ruffin has purchased Treasure Island from MGM Mirage.

MGM Mirage is in a tight spot with trying to wrap up their $9 billion super-project City Center.  Considering the sweet location of Treasure Island on the strip, many think MGM could have gotten twice as much as the $500 million, but clearly MGM was not in a position to haggle.  

Gaming Daily reported that Phil decided to check out Treasure Island first hand by dining in one of their restaurants.  But it appears that the restaurant could not verify his reservation.  I guess we know what will be overhauled first.  

There is no word yet on what will become of the Treasure Island under Ruffin.  We know that Phil wanted to replace the New Frontier with a jazz club themed resort called Montreux, but I can’t see him wanting to throw away a brand that still holds some value, like the Mirage.  Hopefully we will at least see a nice remodeling.  

For more info about Phil Ruffin, check out my post about Oleksandra Nikolayenko.

At first I thought that these were just guys trying to get me to buy a more expensive copy machine, but there is an amazing amount of work and thought that goes into document management.  For example, having all your printing be copied to a master database, so you can keep better records of contracts and correspondence.  The same with faxes; not only can you get faxes directed to the right employee email, but also have copies of them kept on a server.  

This made me start thinking about how difficult it would be to set this type of system up with something like Google Docs.  Can you set up something where every time I print to my Epson printer, it automatically sends a copy to my Google Docs account?  

We currently get faxes through email, so I guess I could just copy my Google Docs, and then go through and name them.  

Pretty interesting concepts though, and worth checking out a couple local document management consultants here in Las Vegas

What I was really looking for was an accountant who was a certfied Quickbooks Accountant, and trainer.  I wanted them to handle my personal finances, as well as company financials.  

One of the key points I was looking for was an accounting firm to audit my past fianncials.  I have found this to be a helpful sales tool with prospects.  I also had the challegne that all my records were contained within Peachtree, so I had to decide how to transfer that over.

The firm I went with was very helpful.  They helped get my finances in line, they are training me on Quickbooks, and they are going to start auditing my financials every quarter.  They also recommended just to close out the year with Peachtree, and start fresh in 2009 with Quickbooks.  This would save the time, expense and sanity of having to attempt to transfer Peachtree to Quickbooks.  Peachtree does not make that easy.  All in all, I’m pretty happy with the Las Vegas Quickbook accountants I hired.

How close are you to paying off your mortgage?  Initial mortgage payments are weighted heavily towards interest payments.  A huge portion of your monthly payment is applied to your loan’s interest amount.  As the years go by, more and more of your mortgage payment will be applied to the principal of the loan.  You can use your mortgage interest payments as a tax deduction every year.  If you are nearing the end of your mortgage loan period, it might be worthwhile to pay off your mortgage if you can afford it.  The tax advantage of having a mortgage becomes less lucrative the closer you get to paying off the loan.

How comfortable do you feel with your mortgage?  Making the decision to pay off a mortgage or continue to make the monthly payments is a very personal and individual decision.  Some homeowners cannot even think about having a mortgage loan for so many years, and others do not give it a second thought.  If having a mortgage makes you uneasy, you probably want to consider paying off the loan.  If you feel comfortable with your current mortgage, there is probably no need to figure out how to pay it off early.

How long do you plan to stay in your home?  If you think your home will be your last residency, it may be to your advantage to go ahead and pay off the mortgage if you can.  If there is a chance you will be moving within the next few years or so, consider keeping your mortgage.  Homeowners that are expecting to downsize will probably fair better if they do not pay off their mortgages, especially if they have been in their current home for many years.  It is very likely that the equity they have built up in their home will give them a substantial amount of cash for a sizeable down payment on a smaller home.  Depending on the amount of equity, they may be able to buy a smaller home outright.

How close are you to retirement?  And how much do you have saved?  If your retirement is quickly approaching but you do not have enough saved, pay off your mortgage if you can.  This will give you a sense of security and give you one less payment every month.  If you have ten or more years before you retire, invest your money in a retirement savings account instead of paying off your mortgage.

What other payments do you have?  If your credit cards have balances that are carried forward every month, use any extra money to pay off these cards.  Other loans with higher interest rates than your mortgage should also be paid off before your mortgage.

Research several health insurance plans to find the one with the lowest cost.  Many employers offer two or three different health insurance plans, and it’s up to you to decide which plan is the most cost effective for you.  Use an online health care insurance cost calculator to determine which plan best suits your needs while giving you the best price.  If you are self-insured, spend some time visiting health insurance Web sites and compare the costs for different plans.  Make sure you are comparing costs for similar plans.

Choose a plan that gives you access to the providers you want to use.  Traditional health plans allow you to choose any healthcare provider or facility.  These plans generally cost more than Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) or Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO).  HMO’s require you to visit doctors specifically associated with their organization.  PPO’s negotiate contracts with healthcare providers and facilities for reduced rates, and you are encouraged to use these contracted providers.  PPO’s usually let you use non-contracted providers as well, but you will pay more for these visits.  If you prefer particular doctors, specialists, or hospitals, make sure they are covered under your selected health care insurance plan.  You can get a list of a health insurance plan’s providers before you commit to the plan.

Look at the required copayments and deductibles.  A copayment is the amount of money you must pay for a healthcare service.  Copayments are sometimes a set amount, such as $25, and sometimes they are a percentage of the total cost, such as 20%.  A deductible is the total amount you are required to pay before the health insurance company benefits are activated.  Coverage for some healthcare services, such as preventive care, is provided before the deductible is met.  Keep in mind that health insurance plans with low copayments and deductibles usually have higher premiums than plans with higher copayments and deductibles.

Make sure the health insurance plan covers everything you need.  If you require periodic visits to a specialist, medical supplies, or ongoing prescriptions, check the health insurance plan’s coverage of these items.  No one can predict what type of healthcare services they will need in the next year, but try to determine what you will most likely need.  If your insurance plan does not cover current or possible needs, look for a plan that does.  Your savings from a lower-priced plan will soon be gone if your coverage doesn’t meet your healthcare needs.

Look at the pre-existing conditions policy.  Some insurance policies will cover pre-existing conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, and some  will not.  Caring for a health condition can become quite expensive without the proper healthcare coverage.  If you are not sure if a health plan will cover your pre-existing condition, talk to a customer care representative to find out.

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Securities-based or Assets-based Financing

One alternative real estate financing option is securities- or assets-based financing.  Your securities or assets are used as collateral for the real estate loan, and you don’t need to use your cash reserves for a down payment.  You borrow against your assets instead of depleting your assets for the down payment.  There are several benefits to this alternative real estate financing.  First, you can keep your investment strategy on track because you are using your investments as collateral instead of selling investments for a down payment.  Your securities will still increase in value while giving you the collateral you need.  Second, your entire portfolio of securities can be considered for your real estate loan, giving you a substantial borrowing advantage.

Home Equity Loans

For real estate financing, you don’t need to look any further than the equity in your current home or other real estate property.  As you make monthly payments for your real estate, you decrease the amount you owe on the mortgage and increase your equity in the property.  Equity is the difference between the market value of your property and the amount you still owe on the property’s mortgage.  You can secure a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit against the equity you have built.  Home equity loans and lines of credit are fairly easy to obtain, and the interest you pay on these loans is tax-deductible.  Keep in mind that your current real estate is the collateral for a home equity loan or line of credit, and your home or other property can be seized for nonpayment of your new real estate loan.

Assume Seller’s Mortgage

Sometimes sellers are willing to allow a buyer to simply assume, or take over, their mortgage.  This usually means that no money is exchanged.  Sometimes the seller is willing to pay the buyer to assume the mortgage.  This may be the case if the seller is desperate to sell the property.  In a sellers’ market, the buyer may be willing to pay a fee for the convenience of assuming a mortgage.  The seller signs over the deed to the buyer, and the current mortgage terms may or may not need to be revised.

Lease Option

A lease option gives the buyer immediate possession of the property and provides for the purchase of the property at a later date.  The seller retains ownership of the property until the date of sale.  Instead of providing a down payment for the property, the buyer makes monthly lease payments until the determined purchase date.  Typical lease option payments are about 5 – 15% higher than average local rent payments.  The buyer pays the property taxes and insurance as well as maintenance and repair costs from the beginning of the lease option agreement.

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Your monthly housing payments are an investment for you rather than someone else.  Every month that you pay a mortgage payment, you are closer to owning your home outright.  Even if you sell your home, you will be able to realize the money you have already invested in the house.  On the other hand, rent payments go entirely to the property owner, and you do not reap any profits.  When you move out of a rented home, the only money you will possibly receive is your original deposit. 

Your housing payments will remain constant.  With a fixed interest rate mortgage, your housing payment is stable over the entire life of the loan.  You know what to expect every month for fifteen, twenty or thirty years.  A variable interest rate mortgage payment will remain the same for a specified amount of time, so you can still have some amount of stability with this type of loan.  Rent, however, is likely to increase every single year, even though your housing accommodations stay the same.  Your mortgage payment may be more than the average local rental price at the start of your loan period, but there is a good chance it will be substantially less than the average rental price by the time you pay off the mortgage.

Owning a home gives you tax breaks.  As a homeowner, you are entitled to savings at tax time.  The entire amount of mortgage interest you paid during the year can be deducted, as well as your property taxes.  If you secured a mortgage, refinanced your home, or took out a home equity loan during the past year, you can also deduct some of the loan processing fees.  Monthly rent payments do not yield any tax advantages.

When you own your home, you can decorate and make changes whenever you want to.  If you don’t like the color of your walls, you can paint them.  Do you need extra room for the new baby?  You can plan an addition to your home.  Your home can reflect your own tastes, individuality, and creativity with your selection of curtains, room colors, carpets and wall hangings.  Rental properties normally have a list of restrictions regarding changing the décor.  You will likely need to live with the original paint colors, curtains, and carpet and may be limited to the number of pictures and other wall decorations you can have.  If you are able to make changes and upgrades to your rental property, the property owner will be the one to profit from your efforts, not you.

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