Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Work/Business section.
To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:
- Claire Doole - Claire Doole Communications
Claire is a former BBC correspondent and international spokeswoman who is passionate about helping people communicate with confidence. Since 2006, she has successfully trained hundreds of professionals in the art of presenting and public speaking, talking to the media, managing communications in a crisis, and writing for the web. In addition, she has coached C-level executives and public figures to give powerful TEDx and TED style talks in Europe and the Middle East. A Swiss and UK national, Claire trains and coaches in French and English.
- Elizabeth Ballin - Life Coach
As a long time member of the international community in Geneva, Elizabeth Ballin has been coaching adults and students from all parts of the world. She has coached business professionals, musicians/artists, couples, families and adolescents. She is a fully accredited Life Coach by the International Coaching Federation. Elizabeth Ballin, Life Coach
- Patrick Hoza - US Tax & Financial Services
Since 1990, Patrick has many years of experience with US individual expatriate taxation under his belt, including High Net Worth Individuals, streamline/voluntary disclosure filings and tax consulting, as well as working with large multinationals like Novartis, BP, Hewlett Packard and General Electric. He has extensive knowledge in serving both US expatriates and resident and non-resident aliens with their US tax-related issues. Patrick Hoza is a Tax Director at US Tax & Financial Services, with extensive experience in all aspects of Individual US tax and Expatriation, including Hight Net Worth Individuals and large multinationals.
Patrick started his career in 1990 in California, with Westpro Ltd., as a Senior Tax Consultant, then spent the middle part of his career working at KPMG and Ernst & Young. During his time with Ernst & Young, he worked and lived in Russia, France and finally Switzerland. He has gained a valuable working knowledge of the respective income tax regulations in all of these countries.
Patrick holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Colorado, is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents and is a Certified Acceptance Agent.
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Melitta Campbell - Business Coach
Business Coach and Mentor with nearly 3 decades of business experience and a passion for helping women confidently build a business they love. She is also the founder of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Club and president of the Swiss Riviera Toastmasters Club in Montreux. Originally from Wales, she now lives in Montreux in a chalet she has renovated with her husband overlooking the Swiss Alps. - Sunita Sehmi - Walk The Talk
Founder of Walk The Talk, Sunita has been training, developing and now coaching Business Communication skills in both companies and educational establishments for over twenty years. She has a passion for helping people to maximise their potential and created Walk The Talk with the sole aim to drive each and every client to perform their best.
- Robert Harris- Forth Capital
With over 25 years experience working for some of the major financial institutions in the City of London, Robert is a founding partner of Forth Capital, the leading expat financial advisory company in Switzerland. Regulary quoted in newspaper articles and magazines, he is well placed to advise expats on a variety of financial issues that may arise during their time living in Switzerland.
- Debbie Croft - Croft Coaching
As the founder of Croft Coaching, Debbie has a passion for helping people overcome challenges, embrace change and live life to the full; with an ethos of “work hard, play hard”.
- Sarah Santacroce - Simplicity
A certified social media, internet marketing, and virtual event specialist, Sarah enjoys every aspect of small business marketing. Through her own business, Simplicity, it is her mission to help other small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility and use social media tools as part of their marketing strategy.
- Diana Ritchie - SSC Sàrl
A Director at Swiss Career Connections, Diana will provide you with some useful tips for job hunting.
By Dr Graham Brown, Forth Capital
Anyone who has pension benefits with a value in excess of the lifetime allowance (LA) will be subject to a tax charge on their excess benefits value known as the lifetime allowance charge.
Key facts
The lifetime allowance was introduced in April 2006 and is the maximum value of benefits that can be taken from a registered pension scheme without being subject to the lifetime allowance charge.
Benefits in excess of the lifetime allowance could be protected from the lifetime allowance charge by using primary, enhanced, fixed and individual protection.
The lifetime allowance has been steadily decreasing since 2012 as follows:
By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity
If I received 5$ every time someone asked me that question I would be a very rich Swiss lady. Do you have a free account and are wondering if you should upgrade? Or maybe you’re paying the monthly fee but are not sure if it’s really worth it? Read this post for some answers (and my personal opinion)
Disclaimer: the opinion and views expressed in this post are solely my own and might not represent those of other LinkedIn experts – or LinkedIn itself.
So should you pay for a LinkedIn Premium Account?
It depends… on your general knowledge about LinkedIn, on your profile, on the objectives you are trying to achieve, on your position (are you a recruiter, a sales professional or a business consultant?)… There is no standard answer. But… in my experience a lot of people are wasting their money on the paid account. But I’ll get to that. Let’s look at the benefits of a Premium Account first:
By Nicole Booth, Forth Capital
The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his first Conservative Budget on 8th July 2015. The key measures affecting private clients are highlighted below.
Income Tax
The personal allowance will rise to £11,000 in 2016/17, and to £11,200 in 2017/18. The government plans to raise the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 so that people working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage do not pay income tax.
The higher rate threshold at which individuals start to pay income tax at 40% will increase to £43,000 in 2016/17 and to £43,600 in 2017/18. These are small steps towards the manifesto target of £50,000 by 2020, so steeper increases will be needed in future years.
Edith Wharton said “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” So when you think of dynamic duos, we contemplate of the power of two and this is exactly what you get with Michael and Juliette McGannon. The husband and wife team have created high-powered, impactful workshops, which they deliver worldwide. Since 1988, they have listened to more than 125,000 managers who told them to make their seminars simple, effective and good fun. They have developed extremely useful tools and strategies for keeping modern managers at the peak of their game.
I met them last year at one of their workshops and what really struck me was their very humane, caring and pragmatic approach. I am very grateful to them both that they found the time to be interviewed.
I hope you enjoy their interview as much as I did!
By Stephen Langton, Forth Capital
For thousands of years there have been Greek Tragedies. From Oedipus to modern times, the idea of a Greek Tragedy is a familiar one. In most recent years, the Greek Tragedy being played out in front of our eyes in real time, has been the demise of the Greek economy and the suffering of the Greek people.
An inefficient and inflexible labour market, a reliance on the black economy and a divergence in growth from its Northern EU brethren, coupled with the debt from the global financial crisis, made the current situation inevitable.
Austerity hasn’t worked for Greece and the “Emperor’s New Clothes” reality is that Greece cannot pay back the debt whether it wants to or not.
This is not the first time in their history that the Greek people have suffered and I suspect it will not be the last.
