Company Profiles: Spotlight on Travel and Tech

It’s just as common these days to call an Uber or Lyft as it is to vacation in somebody else’s home. More specifically, that means staying in an Airbnb.

To say our world is increasingly digital would be an understatement. Today, roughly nine in ten American adults regularly use the internet, according to Pew Research Center data. Among adults that are from 18 to 49 years old, internet usage is almost universal, with over 97 percent regularly going online to do everything from sending email, using social media and reading the news to making travel arrangements, buying products and banking.

For parents, it’s usually a challenging, nerve-racking and expensive proposition when it comes to finding proper care for their children. Whether it’s for a night on the town, a short vacation or a long-term nanny job, finding a person you can trust is an absolute necessity. Fortunately, companies like UrbanSitter are helping parents do just that by making the babysitting process easier and more efficient.

Even Financial has a pithy but straightforward tagline: Powering Financial Services Online. The platform matches qualified consumers with online financial products and services in real time, providing data and insight that allow for marketing institutions and other partners to increase monetization and reduce the cost of acquisition.

For the first time in history, the average national credit score reached 700 last year according to FICO. On the upper end of FICO’s 300 to 850 credit score range, consumers with a score of 700 are rated as ‘very good’ credit risks. However, according to Experian, which looked at VantageScore credit score data, 21 percent of U.S. consumers had deep-subprime scores below 600. Poor and subprime credit ratings cost the consumers who carry them thousands of dollars in higher interest rates on loans and revolving credit, as well as higher premiums on auto and other insurance products.

Are the free product samples your favorite part of any Sephora order you place? Do you love discovering new makeup brands at the Nordstrom beauty counter? Or noshing on complimentary snacks as you cruise the aisles at Costco or Sam’s Club? How about the excitement of opening a box when you have no idea what it contains? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will probably enjoy the subscription box experience.

While the heart of the Midwest may not be everybody’s first choice as a travel destination, Columbus, Ohio, is a wonderful place to vacation in the spring and summer. With a wealth of festivals, activities and sporting events, coupled with easy access, Ohio’s capital city is perfect for families and solo travelers alike. Traveling to Columbus can also be done rather cheaply when redeeming points or miles for travel.

Real estate is one of the most popular alternative investments. But what if you don’t have the time or capital to buy and sell physical property? And what if the public REIT (real estate investment trust) offerings are less than attractive? That’s where private real estate investments, which are investments in real estate assets not tradable on a public exchange, find their niche.

The average American consumer carried $6,354 in credit card debt in 2017, a nearly 3 percent increase over the previous year according to Experian’s State of Credit survey. Though consumers are only utilizing an average of 30 percent of their available revolving credit, 43 percent are carrying a balance every month—a practice which can easily add up to thousands of dollars in high-interest charges each year.

It’s a different day and age in the world of finance and accounting, and there are many companies that are here to help. BlackLine is one of them, providing cloud-based solution that are transforming the financing and accounting industry.

This is done via automating, centralizing and streamlining financial close operations, intercompany accounting processes and other processes for large and midsize organizations. It is designed to complement financial systems like SAP, Oracle and NetSuite.

Many small business owners struggle to find the money to grow their business, boost pay for their employees and become an even bigger asset to their community. Many even struggle to pay their bills each month, living in an endless paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. There’s a California-based organization called Opportunity Fund who’s mission is to invest in those without adequate financial resources in order to better their lives.

In today’s data-driven environment, companies are sitting on a treasure trove of information. However, many are failing to turn that data into tangible benefits for their business, missing out on opportunities to boost revenue and profit. A North Carolina-based company called Automated Insights offers a solution to the data dilemma, promising to revolutionize business in the process.

A home is more than just the biggest purchase most consumers ever make. It’s also a place they fill with memories, gather with family and friends, and a source of both psychological and physical safety. Though debt-to-income, interest rates, closing costs, and other financial factors must come into play once a property is chosen, the actual process of finding the right home is an emotionally stressful one for most consumers. Fortunately, real estate agents and brokers can alleviate that stress as well as many other potential distractions if they use RealScout.

Going on vacation can be fun and relaxing, but it can also be expensive. What do you do something comes up that prevents you from taking your trip at the last minute? What if there’s a medical emergency, a significant flight delay or your luggage is lost? That’s where travel insurance can help protect travelers and the money they invest in their vacation.

Managing your family finances is something that should be of the utmost importance. But with jobs, kids, mortgages and life in general getting in the way, financial discussions are often left on the back burner. Plus, many people in their 20s, 30s and even 40s ignore their finances and don’t start financial planning until it’s too late.

Investing in real estate is different than it used to be when your grandfather did it. It’s even different than when your father did it.

BiggerPockets is helping to spur that change by altering the way the world invests. Founded in 2004, the company provides education, networking and various other tools for any individual interested in real estate investing. Currently, BiggerPockets boasts the largest real estate investing community.

You’ve probably wondered if you’re spending too much money for cable or car insurance or even that gym membership. Most of us want to know how we can trim our monthly expenses and keep more cash in our pockets. There’s a startup called Trim that is helping consumers uncover the hidden savings to be found in recurring bills and subscription services.

Among all the subjects that are taught in U.S. elementary schools, personal finance is often overlooked. That trend started way back in the 1940s, when U.S. government officials determined that schools and teachers were poorly equipped to deal with the complexities of the post-war economic boom. One organization came together to face that challenge and change the way the U.S. views financial literacy from an educational perspective.

Time is money. It’s a basic fact every small business owner has to deal with on a daily basis. But landing a new client also takes time—though exactly how much is up to you. If you’d like to significantly improve your company’s proposal close rates while reducing your team’s busywork related to quoting projects, PandaDoc, a document automation SaaS provider, will help you streamline the process.

Today’s internet is fraught with hazardous malware, or malicious software. It comes in many different forms. It may lurk within the code of infected websites where it waits for unsuspecting visitors to enter personal information. It might hijack otherwise innocuous online ads, redirecting consumers to phishing sites. Or it might tag along in downloads to further spread its disease.