Magazine Archive

Magazine Archive

Social Media Professionalism and Etiquette Tips for Recent Graduates, Parents (and Heck, Anyone Seeking Professional Employment Opportunities!)
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Social Media Professionalism and Etiquette Tips for Recent Graduates, Parents (and Heck, Anyone Seeking Professional Employment Opportunities!)

June is always an exciting time as the spring blossoms have sprung, summer vacation is on the horizon and our recent graduates embark on their professional journeys. However, in today's digital age, it's crucial to be mindful of the impact that social and digital media can have on a personal and professional reputation. As a digital media company, we understand the importance of maximizing social media opportunities while avoiding potential pitfalls. With that in mind, we've compiled four vital tips to help navigate social media for professional success

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Family Business: The Keiters Build a Legacy
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Family Business: The Keiters Build a Legacy

Construction was his profession, not his destiny. Throughout high school and college, Scott Keiter was a natural builder and engineer – both were in his blood – but he had something else in his back pocket: his “Dream Book.” It was just as it sounds, a catalogue of possibilities, a reminder that one day the adventurer in him would helm an enterprise.

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Driven to Succeed: Meet the Rome Family
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Driven to Succeed: Meet the Rome Family

Since the 1950’s, the Rome family has been not only selling cars, but also improving the community, both at home in Longmeadow, and all over the Pioneer Valley. It seems like everyone has seen the Rome family out and about in Longmeadow, bought a car from them, or seen their philanthropy in action - and at the very least - you’ve seen and heard their dogs on TV.

“Longmeadow is a great place to raise a family,” said Gary. “It’s safe, the community is diverse and engaging, it’s not difficult for people to make friends - and it’s a great place to walk around with our dogs.”

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Lessons Learned as a Rookie Bank Trustee
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Lessons Learned as a Rookie Bank Trustee

In August of 2008, a group of investors and myself, with great enthusiasm and fanfare, opened the doors to the first community savings bank in Massachusetts in 16 years - NUVO Bank. We were going to be different. A month later the global credit crisis hit, and the way banking was done changed forever. Running a bank in competitive good times is hard enough, running it in the middle of a global economic banking meltdown is like climbing Everest in a blizzard in your underwear. Everyday you're blinded by another force of nature you never expected. To say it was an educational experience would be an enormous understatement. You never climb Everest alone, and luckily I had two of the best banking minds in the industry, Don Chase as our Chairman and Dale Jane as our President. Together, and with our solid board of trustees, hardworking employees and valued customers, we not only thrived, we survived.

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The Best-Laid Plans Aren't Left to the Commonwealth
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

The Best-Laid Plans Aren't Left to the Commonwealth

If you don’t have an estate plan, you’re not alone. In fact, most adults die without one. Even notable figures like Kurt Cobain, Abraham Lincoln, Howard Hughes, Prince and Pablo Picasso died without a will.

Why do so many people – from former presidents and rock stars to your family members and friends – work their entire lives to accumulate assets but fail to spend mere hours deciding how their assets should pass when they die?

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Guiding Light
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Guiding Light

Lighting is an essential element in any home or office, and it’s important to have functioning lights to create a comfortable and safe environment. Whether you're tired of an outdated or unappealing ceiling light or you need to replace a worn fixture, switching out your ceiling light doesn’t have to be a terrifying prospect. Replacing your ceiling light is a simple and cost-effective way to upgrade your home's aesthetic, but it's important to approach the project with caution. Electrical work can be dangerous if not handled properly.

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Aimee Salmon:  Jumping for Joy
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Aimee Salmon: Jumping for Joy

Are you teaching today? It was one of the first English phrases she understood, even though she was the new girl in Zumba class. No one knew that Aimee Salmon had never danced, that growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, moving just wasn’t on her radar.

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Money Talks
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Money Talks

Inheritance is the third rail in financial planning. No one wants to go there. Yet when you think about your future financial circumstances, you need to estimate any wealth you might inherit. Without it, you’re flying blind when you consider these questions.

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Brenda’s Top 5 Value-Raising Home Improvements
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Brenda’s Top 5 Value-Raising Home Improvements

Whether or not you are considering selling your property, or you just want to enjoy a few simple upgrades along the way, there are several ways to boost your home improvements ROI (return on investment) over time. As housing prices continue to increase, now is the perfect time to invest in your home. A home that is similar to a crisp, clean $100 bill hot off the press will help add money to your bottom line. Whether we are in a buyers or sellers market, these types of home improvements will help net you the most profit on your home.

Here are the top 5 home improvements Brenda has seen her clients successfully use to raise their home’s value

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Hot Topic
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Hot Topic

Home is where the heart is - and where the heat is - if you take care of your heating systems. Berkshire Heating and Air Conditioning not only helps customers service their existing systems, but they also provide new alternatives to traditional systems. Invest your tax refund in the future of your heating and cooling systems and you’ll soon see the returns.

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Alternative Energy Options For Your Home
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Alternative Energy Options For Your Home

Home is where the heart is - and where the heat is - if you take care of your heating systems. Berkshire Heating and Air Conditioning not only helps customers service their existing systems, but they also provide new alternatives to traditional systems. Invest your tax refund in the future of your heating and cooling systems and you’ll soon see the returns.

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Game On:  From Noho to the Majors
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Game On: From Noho to the Majors

“This is the dojo here. This is all our stuff,” says Erik Ostberg, gesturing toward two open duffel bags stuffed with gear that spills onto the floor. He clears off two metal chairs for Jack Power and me, then takes a seat behind the desk at Complex Sports Academy (Plex) in East Longmeadow. Ostberg, 27, and Power, 20, settle in and sip their Reign energy drinks. Last night was a late one in the cage.

The two Northampton-born athletes have lived and breathed baseball since they could wield a bat. Now Ostberg is a bona fide Major Leaguer, Power a Division I rising star. When they aren’t playing with the Tampa Bay Rays or the Long Island University Sharks, Plex is their home.

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Balancing Business & Family: Meet the Millers
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Balancing Business & Family: Meet the Millers

Balancing business and family isn’t an easy feat, but in the Miller Family, trying to find and share the solution is part of the daily equation. One of the many busy families of Longmeadow, they strive to strike the work/school/volunteer/life balance - but it isn’t without its complications!

“Work/life balance is a constant struggle, and I am the first one to admit that,” says Robyn Miller. “When you work remotely, work and family life all become one big blur and it is a job in itself to untangle that. But having the support of others around you, especially other mom’s who understand the battle, to help lift you up, is an essential part of reaching your goals. We have to help one another.”

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What about Mom?
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

What about Mom?

Funny how you can spend a quarter century raising kids with your blood, guts, tears and bottomless love. Then one day something changes and you don’t have a clue how to keep your family together. And then, finally, you begin to wonder if it’s your job anymore.

When my mom was 50 she was left with a daughter in her first year of college and three older sons who could be aimless at times. We were trying to figure out our young adult lives without Dad. But what about Mom?

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A Cable TV Exodus
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

A Cable TV Exodus

Am I the only one that thinks that cable companies are a bunch of thieves? Actually, I know I’m not. I hear the same thing from my clients all the time. But this is getting out of hand. Every other day, I see someone make a post about it, or I get a call from someone who is fed up with their cable bills. While the numbers are not exact, from my experience, monthly bills are ranging from $230-$290 a month! That's insanity.

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Celebrating Pi Day with Mathnasium
Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media Longmeadow Neighbors Reider Media

Celebrating Pi Day with Mathnasium

Happy Pi Day!

Every March 14th, math students and teachers around the world come together to celebrate Pi Day, the holiday that honors the mathematical constant pi. Pi, or 3.14159…, is the distance around a circle divided by the distance across its middle, or the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

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Labor of Love: For Carlos McBride, Enlightenment is a Commitment
Northampton Living Reider Media Northampton Living Reider Media

Labor of Love: For Carlos McBride, Enlightenment is a Commitment

On the first day of class at Holyoke Community College, the teacher arrived early. He walked past rows of empty desks to the chalkboard, where he scrawled his last name, McBride, next to the title of the course, Introduction to Sociology. On the table in front, he put down his stuff, including the syllabus featuring readings by Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim. Then he adjusted his fitted cap, grabbed his hip hop magazine, and walked to the back row. His sneakers scuffed the floor when he took a seat. The pages of the magazine fluttered as he leafed through them. The people filing in barely glanced at the middle-aged man of color whom they assumed was a fellow student. Forty of his peers sat down and waited to learn.

Suddenly, McBride got up and eased his way through the rows. But instead of taking his place at the board, he walked out of the room.

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