Understanding

I could not agreee with you more.... And all the work and money that integral would ever need is right there... THe world needs a new perspective... A new world to consider... and if we can just do that.... arggg....

What no one understand about me, is that everyday all day since I was in my late teens, I have been searching for the cure.... ANd the problem is that is just so simple... 

This is my mind.... Whether it be music, business, whatever... This was written maybe a year or two ago.. An there is 1000's of ideas like these, and they just never stopped growing, because it wasn't eneough... What i mean by it not being enough is more so my frustration with the system in place, for I had to constantly research and learn about different areas.....

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MIDDLEMEN

 

Mission:

To eliminate the time consuming, frustrating, and financial problems people experience on a day to day basis, for a fraction of what we help save.

 

"To Succeed only by helping others succeed, and to the degree in which we help them succeed".

All services revolve around Trust, Time saving, Money Saving, Peace of Mind, & Convenience

 

Broad Overview

A service, specifically aimed to cut all the hassles people face by means of a universal agency which is given authority by the consumer to handle the hassles people face on a day-to-day basis.

Narrowed Overview

A service, consisting of consumer product experts, acting as a universal middleman between buyers  and sellers, to provide purchaser confidence and ease of purchase, such as; finding best deal, insurance of rebates, hassle-free returns, warranties, etc..

 

ANALOGUE: MiddleMen is acting as a financial manager to the consumer, just like how a financial expert is always trying to reduce expenses for a company.

 

 

KEY IDEA - "putting the trust in our court". Instead of having the clients working with different sellers, who often overwhelm consumers with competitive offers, MiddleMen would attempt to step in between sellers and buyers and gain trust through confidence, by proving that MiddleMen is always working in the consumers best interest. In this way MiddleMen is not seen as trying to sell the consumer anything, but instead trying to save the consumer money.  The act of trying to sell raises trust issues.

For example; Who actually goes to a car dealership and believes the salesperson is trying to give them the best deal? No one. Now who actually is confident they are not getting screwed when someone who they trust and who knows cars assists them in the purchase? Not everyone knows people like this.

On the other hand, the act of helping people save gains trust. ……..  incomplete

Now we don’t want consumers to only call upon MiddleMen when they want to purchase a car, or the degree of trust would be limited.  trust and confidence is gained by multiple deposits into the trust accounts, and cars are irregular purchases. So trust must be gained in many other ways…….. Incomplete

 

*Illustration Example for purpose of MiddleMen: My parents work a cumulative of 100 hrs/wk. my mother has literally only time to eat, do dishes, & clean in between her 60 hours. They also have 3 children and financials are tough. They have no time or energy to learn new things . They only have time to make things work. MiddleMen would be an "AID" & an "Advisor" in this situation. Throughout the years many new laws and financial aid/iniatives are created or changed that can help people. 

For Example:  In recent years Energy saving initiatives have been active. Home value can increase if you have certain energy saving appliances. These appliances have become state-of-the-art and are very reliable. The savings realized has been tested and proven over and over that financing for energy improvement initiatives are available.  Look at this as an investment. Low down payment, appreciation gains from an improvement , savings on energy

 

 FTC and other organizations give warnings and how-to's to help consumers not get caught in scams (such as many internet scams) and help them to save money by doing simple things, such as, sealing your home for energy savings.These organizations are trusted because they only aim to help consumers. MiddleMen would be similar to these organizations except would be more proactive, by doing these things for them. MiddleMen would want to be seen as the aid and advisor to the consumer much like these organizations. Similar to how FHA insures borrowers, they are seen as aiding the consumer. A model might be as follows. FTC has a how-to guide on sealing windows for energy savings, the consumer doesn't want to do this themselves. MiddleMen would be seen as FTC's trusted entity who actively works to get this done in the best interest of the consumer. Because MiddleMen is trusted by FTC, some people will trust MiddleMen (similar to Quasi-Government).

 

Primary Services (time/cost saving, eliminate hassles, Trust)

1. Rebate Fullfillment - follows all rebate guidelines to ensure that cash is redeemed from rebate.
2. Financial/Expense Analysis & Planning- Identifying where money is going and how to reduce and save on expenses.  These financial services go beyond the limited scope of traditional financial services offered today which are mainly focused on the future financial growth, such as; mutual funds, insurance, stocks, etc.. Instead of going by a present/future model, MiddleMen uses a Past/Present/Future model.  Past - Analyzes where expenses have gone, and establishes burn rate on certain consumable expenses. Present - Identifies cost saving for the consumable and necessary expenses, and overlooks all exspenses and compares that to income. Additionaly (for Present), identifies key areas for bill reduction (phone, internet, energy, etc.). Future - Compares past to present income growth due to savings and then comes up with a plan to put those savings in to (investment vehicles, loan payments, etc.), and advises in purchasing future items so the consumer continues to improve/sustain the income from savings model.

Government Grants

Tax Benefits

Home Improvement Experts

3. Assisting in Purchasing Products -
   1. consumer product experts to ensure that you get the best product at the best deal.
   2. Client consumer wants to purchase a Laptop, but is unsure which one would best suits his needs. MiddleMen  would review clients financial analysis and recommend a price range. MiddleMen would then connect him with a Laptop specialist or the consumer would use a web form to determine the best laptop to suit his needs. Incomplete
   3. Consumer Complaints

 

Questionable/Secondary Services (Make Life Easier, Offer Confidence & eliminate stress(don’t tie in directly to core essence)

4. Transportation Services  & (see Never Own A Car
5. Errand Running
6. Guiding/Advising - When someone needs some advice on something, their counselor (or agent/assistant) would put them in contact to receive advice.. Fees for service??
7. Errand Running
8. Schedule Planner
9. Professional Advi
10. Maintenance - The idea here is to make it so home owners never have to own their own maintenance appliances & grant peace of mind. At the purchase of your home you sign up for home maintenance, which is a service that would maintain your home for you over the lifetime you own your home. Consider this as the opposite of insurance, you aren't paying ahead of time for an unpredictable outcome, you are paying presently to prevent a predictable outcome,  although the same outcome is achieved, which is peace of mind. By maintenance I'm not just talking about your weekly lawn care service, I'm talking about maintaining every aspect from shoveling/lawn care services to yearly inspection services to ensure that the property is always maintained as to never allow for the value to be dropped due to negligence by the owner.

 

*The key idea with the services offered is that they are all time/money savers and are hassles. If you were given the choice to do something you would rather not do, which costs you time, money, frustration, OR have someone else do it and receive money at little to no convenience to you….. If this were the choice, the answer would be obvious and all I would need is proof because it sounds too good to be true. Proof could be any one of the services because they all offer the same reward; Time, Money, and Less-hassle. With each service a degree of trust and confidence is gained because you only gain by helping them gain and the more you help them gain the more you gain. It is a win/win paradigm. You are making their life easier, less time consuming, and they will be happier because of that. Because you are doing this at very little to no convenience to them,  

 

FINCANCIAL SERVICES

 

 

 Identifying where money is going and how to reduce and save on expenses. These financial services go beyond the limited scope of traditional financial services offered today which are mainly focused on the future financial growth, such as; mutual funds, insurance, stocks, etc.. Instead of going by a present/future model, MiddleMen uses a Past/Present/Future model.  Past - Analyzes where expenses have gone, and establishes burn rate on certain consumable expenses. Present - Identifies cost saving for the consumable and necessary expenses, and overlooks all exspenses and compares that to income. Additionaly (for Present), identifies key areas for bill reduction (phone, internet, energy, etc.). Future - Compares past to present income growth due to savings and then comes up with a plan to put those savings in to (investment vehicles, loan payments, etc.), and advises in purchasing future items so the consumer continues to improve/sustain the income from savings model.

 

In considering the past/present/future model it mainly applies to people who are already far along in their career/lives. How about people just starting out? Ways in which to guide them to avoid mistakes due to ignorance.

Engaging college graduates and planning for their financial future. A affiliate program or partnership with companies who assist graduates in finding employment. These services would have to be separate from already existing services (traditional financial services).

• One aspect or "phase 1" would be to warn these "newbies" of all the ways people end up in debt and explain the importance/difference of starting to save early on in your life.  The basic idea here is to gain the clients confidence and perhaps overwhelm them with the idea of managing their own financials. If they never start managing and planning their own financials, you might gain a client for life.
• The service would consist of a team of advisors from MiddleMen and its affiliates (traditional financial and planning services) that would work for the clients in assisting from everything from purchasing their first home (FHA), setting up savings accounts, retirement accounts. MiddleMen would focus on the direction and getting the client where they want to be.

*KEY IDEA - "putting the trust in our court". Instead of have the clients working with different financial advisors and planners, MiddleMen would attempt to step in between and gain trust building confidence that MiddleMen is always trying to get the client the best deal from the different financial advisors.

 

 

Every purchase made using MiddleMen " Credit Card" Services will be gathered, stored, categorized in detail and be readily available for analysis to determine how best to help the client financially; saving, budgeting, etc.. The service could go a couple ways:

1. MiddleMen reports to client that we can save them X amount of dollars by letting MiddleMen purchase the items for them and billing them.

-Would guarantee business and not disclose how much we are really saving them which would leave room for more profit, but integrity could be a concern

2. Give clients access to be able to analyze their expenses and income. Much like business intelligence software it will conveniently allow the client to analyze where their money is going.

MiddleMen could give them privilege to areas they can save and help them to do it for free (providing coupons, cheapest price and location, etc..), OR MiddleMen charges the client a service fee

-In either case MiddleMen would stand with professional arms wide open to handle the purchases and save them money.

-Establishes integrity and confidence in MiddleMen in our guarantee and fulfillment of turning the savings into reality

!*benefit to IRS ….

 

Many people are too busy or stressed out to look at the small areas where they can save money. I'm talking about the most frequent small consumable purchases like groceries and food. If on average, a family consumes $100 per week on groceries and food, and through savings can reduce to $80 a week, they would save $1000 a year with a saving amount of 20%.

 

Consumable Expenses Savings

Step 1)  Gather information as to what the household/client consumes using Purchase History. If new client this will take some more time as consumer purchase information must be gathered

1. Step 2) Consumable Purchase Price Analysis to identify key saving consumables
2. Step 2) Analyze Consumable Rate of household

 

Signing a contract to purchase a consumable item for 1 year with a producer in order to reduce overall price. Do or will producers offer this? What if they did?

 

*PLANNING & MONITORING GROCERY EXPENSESREDUCES BULLWHIP EFFECT

Reduces inflation?

 

Areas Expenses Can Be Reduced By Limited Need

3. Phones
   • Consolidating or eliminating phones, such as a house phone
   • Usage - pay as you go or increase plan? Switch providers?
4. Internet
5. Software as a service
6. Virtual Network Computing - will client need to use computer while offline?
7. Utility Computing vs. Owning a Computer -

 

 

8.  Debt Services - Goal is to give confidence and show a clear roadmap to paying off the debt. At this point I'm only considering this option in conjunction with other services involving saving the client money. Through authorization from client, a portion of the money saved will be used to pay off debt. This would be electronic and totally free and the goal is to gain trust, and show that MiddleMen cares.

 

9. Investment Services - Deposit percent of savings into an account of their choice
10. Tax Services - do the tax forms for the client and advise and inform of tax breaks they would be eligible for. (savings, time/hassle free)
    • USES
      • Could offer a means of payment for services
      • Could use tax returns in conjunction with investment services
      • Upfront payment of tax returns - ***KEEP IN MIND - there is an existing option(?? Form)***
        • For every expense, every dollar you make, the return can immediately be paid to the recipient and can (potential service) be allocated to pay debts, fees, or put into saving.

"the faster you receive money the faster the money can grow". 1) It is idiotic to allow someone (Government) to hold your money without granting interest(Does GOV give interest?). 2) it is idiotic do let money sit dormant(1?) (not earning interest)

 

1?- For people who avoid claiming taxes because they receive & spend income in cash. Would it be more profitable to claim taxes, and have that money accrue interest instead? Thinking long term and for small untraceable purchases, how much money is left sitting around not earning interest.  *?! IRS gives incentives to this issue?

 

• PROBLEMS
  • Requirements/disclosure - disclosure; of income, expenses, business info(i.e. tax breaks for a home run business or independent contractor), family status(>children=less taxes)
    • POSSIBLE WORK AROUNDS TO DISCLOSURE
      • Indirect disclosure - software like turboTax but is more interoperable and automated as to eliminate the need to complete the turbotax process. The software is embedded in a suite of software that helps manage peoples lives(much like the larger vision of MiddleMen) - finances, schedule, assets, etc. and is automated to ensure that the person is getting all the tax breaks they deserve without hassle and time. Think of TurboTax if computers didn’t exist, they would just be Tax assistants or would do your taxes for you and discolsure of personal info would be inevitable. The software takes out the aspect of disclosure to a 3rd party through automating tax assistant jobs, all information is stored with you and turbotax connects you to the IRS.

 

 

Extending Tax Deferral to all purchases - Somehow providing a means to defer taxes on income used for purchases. Such as, groceries and gas

?If MiddleMen is purchasing products for someone using the money from an interest-bearing tax deferred account that belongs to the client, the deferral of taxes extends to other products???

 

Tax Deferring -

? Methods for deferring income tax (think in terms of RE 1031 exchange, win(gov), win(investor)

Types of: Retirment, 401k

You don’t have to pay income tax now as long or so long as.. It is providing a benefit to gov

(IE? - goes directly for use of a lender or government in return for interest for a fixed period of time.  OR income equivalent to taxes

?? Expenses in relation to taxes - ex) >E = <T?

 

"It is a general fact of taxation that when taxpayers can choose when to pay taxes, the total amount paid in tax will likely be lower." Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_deferral>

 

 

 

Saving: materials that people throw out or neglect to sell or don’t know they can sell. such as aluminum cans or metals [wires(copper), cadalitic converters, other household appliances)

?Note: are dumpsters at apartment complexes  considered to be property of the apartment complex owner or of the government/quasi-gov. If the dumpsters are someones property what are the laws in regards to the contents. Is it legal to garbage pick from a local dumpster? OR even from someone's garbage left on their porperty to be picked up by the garbage truck?

 

Future: Installment payments coupled with an interest for every purchase, from a candy bar to a house, by a consumer. Every purchase made is added to the total installment, and paid out periodicaly (ie-monthly.

-Installment payment services combined with a purchase device (like a credit card or MiddleMen purchase card). The purchase device is necessary to monitor and combine the small purchases (like groceries and gas)

The basic idea here or could be seen as a key to success/incentive, would be the installment interest is so low that there is a positive interest rate when subtracting installment interest rate from saving interest rate. the amount to be paid for future installments would enable the purchaser to accumulate interest from that amount that would exceed installment interest and cut down the purchase price.

Consumer/Purchaser   --->   Installment service (pay upfront?) --->  seller