6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Opportunities **(If the websites are needed, I have them)**

Economic Trends

#1 - Interest Rates are rising

Where: I found an article online about U.S. Economic Trends and their impact on society as a whole.
This article gives some foresight toward our financial futures.

What: The federal reserve wants to raise their interest rate to 2% because the economy is expanding.

Who: Anyone who has any type of loan, mortgage, appliances or anything else that adds interest

Exploitation Difficulty: This is a very easy opportunity to exploit because the federal reserve is
increasing the interest rate and as long as they don’t see the economy going into recession it will keep
increasing.

Why: I saw this as a potential opportunity because when interest rates go up, prices go up and people
have to pay more for products or services they used to pay less for. This type of opportunity always
poses an issue because no one wants to pay more than they’re used to paying.

#2 - Financial Market are controlling our prices

Where: I found an article online about U.S. Economic Trends and their impact on society as a whole.
This article gives some foresight toward our financial futures.

What: Supply and Demand do not control the prices in the market anymore. Instead, prices are being
set by commodity traders and the value of the dollar is determined by foreign exchange traders.

Who: Anyone who has any type of loan, mortgage, appliances or anything else that adds interest

Exploitation Difficulty: This is another easy opportunity to exploit because commodity traders are
setting the prices, which means they will charge as much as they see fit.

Why: This is an issue because commodity traders want to profit as much as they can, so they’ll raise
the prices as high as they’ll go without losing too many customers.

Regulatory Changes  (Affects Small Business Owners)

#3 - Paid sick leave and minimum wage policies at local and state levels

Where: I found another website that had an article about multiple new regulatory changes to watch
out for this year.

What: Raising the minimum wage and mandating paid sick leave is a major issue for small business
owners because not all small business owners have the funds or resources to adapt to these changes.

Who: Small Business owners

Exploitation Difficulty: This is an easy opportunity because these policies are being changed at a
state level, so small business owners don’t really have a say in what’s happening.

Why: This is an issue because raising the minimum wage and mandating paid sick leave has the
potential to cause serious damage to small business owners because they lack the funds or resources
to properly manage this situation.

#4 - Portable benefits rules (Affects Small Business Owners)

Where: I found another website that had an article about multiple new regulatory changes to watch
out for this year.

What: The amount of independent contractors, freelancers, and temporary workers in the economy
is increasing. Without working for a company, all these independent workers are not receiving the
common benefits offered by most companies like their 401K and Health and Dental Insurance.

Who: Small Business owners

Exploitation Difficulty: This is another easy opportunity because all these independent workers
that are not affiliated with any company or group are missing out on key benefits that are essential
for a stable future.

Why: This is an issue because these independent workers are usually unaware of the benefits
they’re missing out on, but benefits like the 401k are essential to maintaining a stable future;
speaking in financial terms.