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kumeko · 4 years ago

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Prompt: Geralt/Yennefer & Ciri family fluff

A/N: For @caiabresebun, for @thewitchersecretsanta. Ok. Um. I was going for family fluff, and my sister was watching a lot of Hallmark movies, and thus this monstrous thing came to be with a bit less family fluff than I was planning. I’M SORRY. (I am hoping to add to this later, but uh...)

…

There was something relaxing about the gym. Standing in the center of the boxing ring, his gloves strapped tightly to his fists, Geralt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The whole place had a musty, stagnant smell, the kind of scent that came from being a third-rate gym with third-rate equipment. Places like this were a dime a dozen in the city, entrances tucked away in alleys and after a flight of stairs.

It was a miracle, honestly, that the place hadn’t closed down yet. It was a pretty small place, barely able to fit in a dozen or two at a time. There was a better Goodlife center around the corner, with proper instructors and amenities. If he was being charitable, he knew he wasn’t the best trainer—he could be hard where others were soft, firm where others bent.

If it weren’t for the cheap rates, they’d have been in the red years ago. As it was, Geralt didn’t want to question their finances too much. After all, it was only the goodwill of the owner that let him rent the apartment right above the gym. In a city as expensive as New York, he doubted he’d anywhere else as affordable. Especially considering his…uneven employment.

“Geralt!” A girl called out as she pulled open the door, a bell ringing a few seconds after to belatedly announce her arrival. “I’m home!”

And even if he could find a place to stay, he doubted he’d find one big enough to fit him and his adopted daughter. Geralt opened his eyes, looking over his shoulder as Ciri walked in the room. At thirteen, she was gangly and awkward, all long limbs and flyaway hair. He had maybe a year or two before she grew into her body, and then just mere months before her mind finally caught up and he’d have to deal with whatever teenage tantrums she tossed his way.

“Good,” Geralt grunted, watching as she plopped her backpack on one of the benches. “You’re late.”

“Not really!” Ciri protested, pointing at the clock. “It’s only 4:15.”

“And you normally come back at 4.” Geralt glared at the door, waiting for her irritating babysitter to walk in. When the door remained stubbornly closed, he barked, “Jaskier.”

“Yeah! Sorry about that.” Jaskier poked his head in through the door and smiled sheepishly. As usual, his brown hair looked like a mouse’s nest, he reeked of cheap perfume, and his clothes looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be punk or rock. Which, to be fair, was exactly how his band sounded like—a confused mishmash of two different sounds.

For some reason, the ladies loved it.

Geralt sometimes feared for the future. “What happened?” he asked, already knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Nothing, nothing!” Jaskier waved the question away with a goofy smile, chuckling in the way he did when he was hiding something. “Just got some ice-cream—”

“It’s December,” Geralt pointed out flatly.

“—and took the long way home.” Jaskier winked at Ciri. “Just a little mutual complaining, right?”

Ciri stared at him for a long minute, then turned to Geralt. “Who’s Yennefer?”

Geralt stiffened. He hadn’t heard that name in years. He hadn’t expected to hear that name ever again. Immediately, he glared at Jaskier. “You.”

Jaskier wilted. “You weren’t supposed to ask!” he hissed.

Ciri snorted, already sounding like a teenager. Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she asked, “Oh, I should just let him stay grumpy forever?”

“Grumpy?” Geralt clenched his jaw. Part of him wanted to know just what Jaskier said. Another, bigger part of him knew it was his usual brand of nonsense, a mixture of lies, rumours, and a tiny drop of truth. Whatever it was, it was better not to know. Actually, that was almost always the solution when it came to Jaskier.

“I didn’t say you were grumpy,” Jaskier refuted quickly, scratching his cheek. “More like—”

“Heartbroken?” Ciri guessed, a sly glint in her eyes and maybe Geralt should start preparing himself now for her teenage years.

“Yes—no!” Jaskier’s jaw dropped. “Ciri, are you trying to get me killed?”

“I’m not heartbroken,” Geralt stated, moving past Jaskier’s betrayal for now.

“He said it’s why you’re grumpy all the time,” Ciri challenged, ignoring Jaskier’s yelps and cries as she revealed their entire conversation. “You miss her.”

“I don’t miss her.” Geralt smiled wryly at the thought. How could he miss someone who was never there? “It was years ago, Ciri.”

“It’s been years since my…” Ciri trailed off, her skin paling.

She didn’t have to finish; he knew what she was about to say. Crossing the boxing ring, he leaned against the ropes and smiled gently at her. He was never certain of what exactly possessed her grandmother to leave her in his care—knowing the woman, she probably hadn’t wanted to either—but he was glad she did.

He couldn’t say just how much his life had changed now that Ciri was in it, only that it was for the better. “That’s a different thing,” he replied softly. “Your grandparents loved you very much.”

She smiled back hesitantly. It had taken her a while to get comfortable enough to talk about her grandparents. They had been practically her parents, raising her since birth. “Yeah.” For a moment, he thought that was the end of that, but she pressed, “And Yennefer?”

Geralt sighed, running a hand through his hair. Now that it was out, he might as well get it over with. “It was a short thing, just before you came. She wasn’t interested in anything more.”

Ciri frowned. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he confirmed, shrugging. What else could he tell a child? The connection he’d felt with Yennefer had all been in his head; she’d made it clear enough when she left.

“Oh.” She sounded disappointed as she picked up her backpack. “I’ll finish my homework.”

He knew she really meant she wanted to process it all, and he waved her off. “Sure.”

“And I’ll make my way out—” Jaskier added casually, slinking his way to the door.

“Jaskier. Ring. Now,” Geralt ordered, his teeth bared as he glared at him.

-x-

Yennefer was never certain of what exactly possessed her to join her current company. Well, no, she knew exactly why—her ‘mother’ Trisha worked for their rivals and that was more than a good enough reason to join. Perhaps that was petty, but then again, Yennefer never claimed to be otherwise.

Pettiness was sometimes the only way you dealt with a woman like Trisha. It was almost impossible to get under her skin. Even all of her years in law school, backstabbing and clawing to the top of her class hadn’t taught Yennefer the right way to twist the knife in her mother’s heart.

For now, she’d have to make do as the corporate lawyer for a rival business, filing lawsuit after lawsuit and fighting her mother in court.

“Hey, Yennefer!” Her fellow lawyer, Triss, smiled brightly at her, waving as she entered the hotel lobby. “You’re here early.”

“Or you’re here late,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. This was precisely what she hated about her workplace. Tech companies as a whole reeked of that sugary ‘we’re all in this together’ attitude, no doubt fostered by their shareholders to trick employees into working free overtime. And the fools ate it up, staying in their offices well past closing because of paltry things like buffet bars and gaming rooms.

The near-sighted idiots had no idea how much they were being used. It was bad enough the peons were cheerful morons; she didn’t need her fellow lawyers buying into it too.

Either feigning ignorance or in need of some hearing aids, Triss breezed past her comment like it hadn’t happened. “I didn’t take you for the holiday type.”

“I’m not,” Yennefer replied flatly. “What gave it away, my black outfit or my black makeup?”

“Well, that’s true. It’s not very Christmas-y. Or Holiday-y.” She smiled brightly, as though that had been an actual question and not a sarcastic quip. Now Yennefer was certain Triss was faking it. “Or—actually, what do you celebrate?”

“Nothing.” Yennefer glanced at the champagne in her hands. The second she’d entered the hotel’s ballroom for her company’s ‘Holiday’ party (and oh, they like to say it was ‘Holiday’, even though all of the decorations were so obviously ‘Christmas’. And yet, just like everything else, the fools just ate it all up.), Yennefer had grabbed a glass from a passing waiter. And then another.

She actually wasn’t certain how many she’d drank so far, but clearly it wasn’t enough if she was still conscious for this conversation.

“Seems like you celebrate Halloween,” Trisha replied smartly, the closest she’d come to baring her claws so far.

“And you are a suck up,” Yennefer retorted, already tired of the conversation. “What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Triss’s smile dropped a notch. Around them, various employees drifted about as they chatted, everyone from the top CEOs to the lower management mingling. “Just wanted to see how you’re doing. Make some small talk.”

“We see each other every day.” Yennefer glanced around for another waiter. Her drink was almost empty, and she needed another.

“And you don’t talk about yourself then.” Triss sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t know why I thought it’d be different now.”

“Me neither.” With a careless wave, Yennefer pivoted and headed to another waiter. Triss sputtered something unintelligible and she hoped it was a curse. It’d make her far more interesting and out of all of the lawyers in her company, she was by far the most attractive.

A little fire would actually make it interesting to have a fling with her.

Plucking two glasses from the waiter, Yennefer looked over the rim as she drank, taking in the other employees. It was a small miracle Isetradd had left the company before their holiday party; despite everything that had happened between them, he’d probably make a pass. Depending on how drunk she got, she’d probably say yes. If there was one useful thing about the time of the year, it was that it made it all the easier for her to find some mindless entertainment, to slip in and out of beds without anyone caring.

Caring.

For a moment, she thought of a certain silver-haired man and she bit her lip. It had been years. More than that, it had been another petty attack on her mother—sleeping with Tissaia’s temporary bodyguard, was a scandal in the making. Even if only to Tissaia’s eyes.

She hadn’t expected him to get attached.

She hadn’t expected herself to be tempted.

Shaking herself out her thoughts, Yennefer gulped her remaining champagne and headed to the open bar. It had been years; she didn’t understand why he lingered in her thoughts, but this sentimental feeling was a hindrance.

“Whisky,” she ordered, slipping onto one of the bar stools. “On the rocks.”

Yennefer was not nearly drunk enough to deal with this tonight.

-x-

Geralt could not for the life of him explain exactly how he’d ended up walking through downtown New York with Jaskier in the evening. It was mid-December. It was really cold. It was a weekday.

“Why am I here?” he asked aloud, glaring at his shorter companion.

Jaskier grinned, patting him on the back. “Look, I brought up some painful memories, right? Well, what better way to fix that than by helping you make some new, better ones?”

“That’s a stupid reason.” Geralt turned around. Ciri was definitely not doing her homework right now, probably ordering takeout, and most likely needed his watchful eye.

“Wait, wait, wait, it’s not!” Jaskier quickly jumped in front of him, pressing his hands on his chest in an extremely futile attempt to get him to stop. They both knew exactly how much Geralt outclassed him in strength, just like they both knew the only reason Geralt had stopped was because he wanted to. “It’s a really good reason.”

“How?” Geralt knew he’d regret asking this, just like he regretted asking Jaskier anything, really. Somehow, the guy had a silver tongue and a penchant for getting what he wanted, and either Geralt lost time listening to him or ended up agreeing to something he definitely didn’t want.

Jaskier’s smile grew wider as he gently turned Geralt around and continued to steer him down the street. “Look, you’re still hung up on her—don’t lie to me. I told you she was bad news, you didn’t listen, and this is where it got you. Even Ciri’s worried. You don’t want her to worry, right? You want to show her you’re fine, right?”

“…is she really that worried?” Geralt muttered, unable to refute it. He wasn’t ‘hung up’ on Yennefer, but he couldn’t deny that he still felt bound to her somehow.

Jaskier perked up and nodded quickly. “I mean, she wants you to be happy, and you’re kinda mopey and grumpy,” Geralt glared and he hastily amended, “not that it’s a bad thing, we love that part of your, but…you know…it’d be good to know that’s just because you’re you, and not because of some bi—”

“Where are we going?” Geralt asked, interrupting before Jaskier could go on yet another rant.

“Every club.” Jaskier gestured at the brightly lit street ahead of them.

“Every club?” Geralt repeated slowly, not liking the sound of it.

“Every single one. You’re going home drunk, with someone, or hopefully a combo of the two.” Jaskier pumped his fist, looking determined for once in his life. Why that energy never transferred to his actual work, Geralt never knew.

“I’m going home tired,” he grumbled, but followed anyway.

As usual, Jaskier knew every party in town. He had always been the more social one between them, with all the good and bad it came with. For every three people he flirted with, a fourth and fifth were ready to pummel him to death. Deservedly so, Geralt was certain, but if they wanted to kill Jaskier, they’d have to do it out of his sight at least. He needed plausible deniability for when Ciri asked.

And as expected, Geralt felt very tired by the time they’d hit the fifth one. The parties were as different as can be, from well-dressed elites sipping cocktails to raves better suited for university students, but either way, mostly filled with boring, annoying people that he would rather never see again. Every time Jaskier sensed his patience had hit its limit, he’d drag Geralt off to the next party.

“How are there so many parties?” Geralt muttered as they entered some ostentatious hotel. The décor was meant to replicate grandeur but felt over-the-top and tacky to him.

“Christmas!” Jaskier explained, still as cheerful as though it were their first party, and not the nth one. “Every company’s cramming them in this week which is perfect for gate crashers like us.”

Geralt raised a brow. “Don’t they have security or id?”

Jaskier shrugged as he led him into the ballroom. “Probably. Now, come on. We’ve been at it all night, and you’re barely buzzed.”

“You keep dragging us out before I can drink,” Geralt pointed out.

“No worries here—open bar.” Jaskier grinned, all teeth. “Perfect place to drown your sorrows.”

“I don’t have any,” he retorted immediately.

Jaskier shrugged it off. “Sure, sure. You go drink in joy then, and I’m going to take a look at who’s here. See you in ten!”

Without waiting for a response, he firmly pushed Geralt toward the back and then disappeared. Geralt clicked his teeth but made his way forward. As usual, people stopped and stared at him, though they tried to do it as politely as possible. With his heavy build and long white hair, he knew he was an unusual sight for many.

“Oh? Look who it is.”

But not for all. He froze at the familiar sultry voice. Seated at the bar, sipping whisky, was Yennefer. As usual, she looked stunning, her black cocktail dress clinging to her like a second skin. The light flush on her neck and cheeks gave away how drunk she was, though her eyes were as intelligent as ever.

“Yennefer,” he muttered, reluctantly approaching her. It was only now, only here, that he could privately admit what Jaskier and Ciri had said:

He was hung up on her.

He had always been too slow, too simple for the city, and so when he’d gotten caught up in the whirlwind that was Yennefer, he hadn’t realized that what was true for him hadn’t been true for her. That his feelings were only one-sided.

That to her it was just a game.

Even this meeting was just another game.

Yennefer patted the seat next to her. “You should sit.”

It was like nothing had happened. Steeling himself, he shook his head and stood. “I’ll have a Moscow Mule.”

The bartender nodded, already pulling out a glass.

Yennefer wrinkled her nose. “Vodka. Again. You never change, do you?”

“I try not to,” he muttered, unable to stop himself. She’d always been good at drawing him into a conversation.

“Still at the…” Yennefer paused, her nose scrunching as she tried to think of the word. “handy-man things?��

She was definitely drunk. He tried not to care. “Yes.”

“One-word answers—I told you to fix that.” Yennefer took another sip of her drink. Lifting the glass, she admired the light filtering through the dark brown liquid. “You haven’t learned to talk—business isn’t going to expand that way, you know.”

“It doesn’t need to.” Geralt shrugged as he got his glass. The ice clinked as he drank. “I’m good.”

Yennefer snorted. “You mean barely making it.”

“Everyone’s barely making it, compared to you,” he growled. She always had a way of getting under his skin. “There are other things.”

“And what do you know of those ‘other’ things?” Yennefer laughed, her red lips curving into a contemptuous smirk. “You’ve hidden in your shell for years.”

She wasn’t wrong. He’d lived that way for years. Geralt stared at his reflection in his drink. “Not anymore.”

She raised a perfectly trimmed eyebrow. “So you have changed.”

“Yeah. And you haven’t.” He was already tired of the conversation. Picking up his glass, he turned to go when a delicate hand wrapped around his tie. He stared at her perfectly manicured nails before she yanked hard, bringing his lips tantalizingly close to hers. “Yennefer,” he breathed, unable to pull back.

“Why are you still so goddamn attractive?” Yennefer mused. This close, he could smell the alcohol on her breath, and below it the faint scent of her flowery perfume.

“I…”

“It’s unfair,” she murmured, so close now her lips brushed his as she spoke. Suddenly, she slumped on his chest and Geralt froze.

“Huh?” Panicked, he grabbed her shoulders, lifting her head. Her slow breathing, slightly parted lips, and closed eyes explained everything: she was fast asleep.

“Had a feeling,” sighed the bartender. “She’d drank too much.”

Geralt looked at him, panicked. “Where should I put her?”

He shrugged. “You could ask for a room here, if there’s any still available. Either way, when the party’s over, she has to go.”

Her shoulders were still too small and fragile, and he held her carefully as he quickly scanned the room. If anyone else here knew or cared about her, they didn’t act like it. Almost no one looked at him, too focused on their conversations.

“Still no friends,” he muttered. “And I’m the one avoiding people?”

-x-

Yennefer woke to a pounding head and a parched mouth. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten so hammered last night; it was a company party, after all. She had to keep some decorum.

Yennefer frowned. Company party. Drinking.

Just when had she gotten home? How? Actually, now that she thought about it, her bed felt oddly hard and the smell…

Husky, a bit wild, and—

She knew that smell.

Yennefer opened her eyes, staring at the vaguely familiar ceiling. It had been years since she’d slept here and suddenly last night came rushing to her. Geralt had been at the bar. Geralt of all people. Quickly, she patted herself, checking that her clothes were still on. Even though she’d made the stupid mistake of going home with him, she certainly hadn’t made the stupider mistake of sleeping with him.

There was enough complication in her life without adding him back to the mix. Sitting up, she rubbed her head. As usual, the big lug had deposited her on his bed, no doubt sleeping on the couch or something instead.

“You’re awake!” Yennefer snapped her head to the door, where a young blonde girl eyed her curiously. The girl bounced on her feet slightly. “You’re Yennefer, right?”

She raised a brow. This was Geralt’s place, right? “And you’re?”

“Ciri.” The girl grinned before spinning around. “Geralt! She’s awake!”

Yennefer groaned and lay back down. Either he was married, widowed, or adopting rugrats all over the place. Either way, she wasn’t ready for any of this. Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could pretend nothing happened.

Yeah. That’s what she’d do.

“Yennefer?”

She grumpily opened her eyes and saw him at the door.

Well, at least she’d gotten one thing right yesterday. Damn, he’d aged well.

#geralt #the witcher #yennefer #jaskier #gennefer #yenralt #cirilla fiona elen riannon #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #fanfic #WHAT IS THE SHIP NAME GUYS #come on the other one is just single one to remember #and i don't know what to tag for this aside from everything #geralt x yennefer #anyways #i laugh at how I post this before i post my other witcher fic

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angelicthor · 6 years ago

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billion dollar man - part 2

pairing: tony stark x reader

summary: after mounting bills and debt cause you to look at alternative means of making money, you’re thrown into a whole different kind of life when one of the most famous billionaires on the block offers to be your sugar daddy, of course in exchange for a different from of payment. non-superhero au.

warnings/genre: +18 only, sugarbaby/daddy relationship

masterlist | billion dollar man masterlist

You were completely stunned by the man in front of you, Tony fucking Stark; The most infamous billionaire playboy there ever was. Stark had inherited his company from his father, it was originally weapons manufacturing and Tony had transformed it from a million-dollar company to the biggest weapons corporation in the world, but he had since abandoned that line of work after he was held hostage by terrorists in Afghanistan.

The entire event had been covered by every news station in America, there wasn’t a day that went by without every channel providing an update on the situation, although most had given up hope for him after a few days. But against all odds, Stark had actually managed to survive and escape, his perspective entirely changed from the experience, vowing to never create weapons again after seeing what they were used for. Instead he focused his entire company into clean energy and honestly, the man had created some revolutionary stuff.

You had always considered the entire change of heart to be quite noble, it takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong and Stark had been very wrong. Not only that but the whole world was against him when he did it, stocks were dropping from his company, high-level employees threatened to walk and, according to Babble Babe, he lost a good number of friends over the whole fiasco. And yet, he stuck by his beliefs and actually made it work. You admired his integrity.

His business, however, didn’t make nearly as many headlines as the man himself and he happened to by Babble Babe’s favourite topic. You could guarantee that after every event New York had, the next day Tony Stark was involved in some scandal or another, he was an infamous womanizer who was forever been photographed with a different woman – or two or three – on his arm every time he was seen. Which led you to the question: why the hell was he doing this?

Your nerves amplified, your mouth drying as you released you were on a date with none other than the notorious billionaire himself – what the hell were you going to do? In you star-struck daze, you completely forgot why you were here, needing to impress him in order to solidify your arrangement.

Realising you were just standing there shamelessly gawking at the man in front of you, you hurriedly took your seat across from him, cheeks burning at the smirk that pulled at his lips and the way his eyes roamed over you appreciatively.

“You were right: I definitely know who you are,” You laughed, shaking your head in disbelief at the situation you were in.

The chuckle that left his mouth was warm, washing over you like a calming wave, “And I was certainly right about wanting to see you in person – gotta tell you darlin’, I am not disappointed.”

You formally introduced yourselves to each other, making mindless small talk whilst the waiter took your orders, after your food was sent off for Tony leant back in his chair, regarding you with an inquiring gaze. Squirming under the intensity residing in his twinkling brown eyes, you finally relented with a sigh, “What is it?”

He seemed amused by your candour and you became sure it was something he wasn’t used to, people in his world sugar-coated everything to the point of it being nonsensical and you just didn’t have it within you to do that; you were blunt and you appreciated people returning said bluntness. You began to wonder if this was going to work at all.

“Are you always so direct?” He arched an eyebrow at you, humour evident in his tone.

“Pretty much, yeah – I like knowing where I stand with people and I make sure people know where they stand with me; I hate playing the guessing game, it’s pointless and tiring and is a complete waste of time, is it gonna be a problem?” Your brows furrowed with concern, sure you’d been talking with a few other potential ‘daddies’ on the site but Tony had been your first choice, even before you found out who he was. You didn’t want your chances to fly away just because you spoke your mind unapologetically.

“Actually no, if anything, my opinion of you just went up. I hate people pander over me, there aren’t enough people in my life who appreciate a direct answer. I was just wondering if you wanted to address the elephant in the room, you know, the fact that this is pretty much an interview for me to become your sugar daddy,” He wiggled his eyebrows at you suggestively and you couldn’t stop the boisterous laugh that burst from your lips at the gesture.

“Sure thing, where do you want to start?” You questioned him playfully, your lips curled in a smirk, on that he mirrored immediately and the atmosphere between the two of you shifted, electricity filling the air between you.

The static ambience between the two of you dimmed when the waiter brought your food over, the both of you thanking them before they were on their way, leaving you two to eat and discuss what exactly was wanted and expected from the arrangement.

“So, why exactly do you want a sugar daddy? I’m pretty sure it isn’t for the sex, a girl with your face wouldn’t struggle in that department,” You shook your head at his humour, you could see where he got his reputation from.

“I need one for the sugar part, a pretty face may get you laid but it sure as hell doesn’t pay your bills, of which mine are piling. Plus, this jig pays a pretty penny, I figured I could save enough doing this to buy a share of law-firm, become a partner somewhere ya know? Finally get to do the job I worked my ass off for in college instead of being stuck waiting tables for the rest of my life,” You sighed out, disappointed with the way your life had turned out, how the hard work you’d put into your education and career weren’t paying off because you didn’t have the funds to get you through the door.

Tony nodded in understanding, mulling over your words before he spoke: “So this isn’t a permanent thing? You aren’t going to bounce from one rich pa to pop until you get yourself a hefty retirement fund? You have plans for afterward?”

“Yeah, this isn’t how I wanted to do it but I’m getting kinda desperate. Why, did you want a professional?” You joked with him, pondering where his line of enquiry was leading.

“No, no, you’re actually exactly what I was looking for,” You arched an eyebrow in question to him, shooting him a dubious look, waiting for him to continue, “Look, I’m gonna be straight with you here. The board of Stark Industries is threatening to have me removed as CEO if I don’t show signs of stability, the risks I took remodelling it still don’t sit well with a lot of them and with my frankly reckless social life, they’re beginning to think I’m not capable to run the company. So, I need a fake significant other and to keep my image free of scandals until this all clears over; the only problem is I’m terrible at relationships – they just aren’t for me, but this, this I can do.”

The playfulness that had surrounded him all night suddenly vanished as he spoke about his company problems, the business he had spent so long on, what his father had passed down to him was being taken away from him. You couldn’t imagine how hard that must be for him, to have everything he’s worked so hard on be taken away from him because of the narrow-minded opinions of a select few, you couldn’t help but feel for him, he certainly didn’t deserve this. There was something you still didn’t understand though.

“But why get a sugar baby? You’re you; you could get a date anywhere any time – hell you normally have about three, why bother going through all of this?”

Letting out a deep sigh, he shook his head, trying to figure out how to phrase this without sounding like a complete tool: “The girls I normally date are… nice, sure. But to spend more than 24 hours with them would be mind-numbing in ways you don’t understand, to say that they aren’t of any substance is a major understatement. If this whole fake-relationship is going to work I’m going to need someone I can spend long periods of times with without wanting to stick a screwdriver in my eye.”

You couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped at his exaggerated annoyance, watching him pull the most ridiculous expressions at the thought of being forced to spend prolonged time with his usual type. “So, they’re more of a one night only kind of arrangement then?”

Tony smirked at your words, sipping on the whiskey in his glass before responding, “Sure, but that’s not the only problem. I couldn’t trust those girls with what I’m asking you for here, they’d obviously have to know it was fake because I do not want to real relationship and the moment they found out they’d sell me out to the nearest gossip magazine. What I need is trust and a mutual understanding, I need-”

“You need someone who is willing to scratch your back if you scratch theirs - with discretion of course,” You interrupted him, finally understanding why the infamous Tony Stark was going to so much trouble for a date.

“Exactly, and with you wanting a career after this, I can assume you want to be as scandal-free as possible to make the best impression on your first day. We can part ways after this with a hearty handshake and no hard feelings.”

You mulled over his words; this was too perfect to be true. You’d get to live stress-free over your bills, get to taste the high-life that New York had to over, Tony wasn’t a creepy old-guy who just wanted to fuck and run back to his high-school sweetheart, you could save enough money to actual buy a partnership into a law firm, and retain your professionalism once it was over, no one would even know it happened. You honestly couldn’t believe your luck but you sure as hell weren’t going to sit back and watch your golden opportunity pass you by.

“It sounds like a good deal to me Tony, that is if I passed the interview of course,” Your voice took on a sultry tone towards the end, looking up at him through your lashes and watching as his notorious lady-killer smirk donned his face. You understood why he could get as many women to jump between the sheets with him as he did; that smirk was a dangerous thing.

Leaning across the small table, he leaned on his hands that were clasped in front of his face, his eyes showing a mischievous glint, “Well, there are a few more things I need to see before I can wholly agree to this arrangement, that is if you are still interested?”

“I’m still very much interested Mr. Stark,” your voice dripped with allure, you knew what he was getting at and you were more than willing to play along.

The waiter once again came over, noticing your empty plates, and asked if either of you would care to look at the dessert menu, you both declined choosing instead to have one more drink before you headed home.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

You kinked a brow at him, nodding at him as you sipped at the wine in your glass, “Yeah, why do you want to meet up again? Do you have another interview arranged Mr. Stark?”

Tony shook his head at your teasing tone, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip as his eyes gleamed with mirth. “Oh, you are going to be trouble in all the best ways,” You couldn’t help the playful eyeroll that occurred as he appreciatively let his gaze ravish your body, nibbling at his lip as he did, “But yes, two really – I need to see how you do in a more… intense environment, you know people coming up to us and talking about the regular bullshit of the day. I need to know you can keep up appearances so to speak, we’re going to have to do a lot of these if we go ahead. There’s a charity dinner tomorrow evening at the plaza, all the usual crowd will be there, seems like a perfect opportunity.”

You nodded your head in agreement, understanding why he needed to do this, you couldn’t just take any company to these events and you only hopped that you could pull it off – God knows you had no idea what to actual do at such formal events.

“I’m guessing you’re wearing the nicest thing you own right now?” Your back straightened as for the first time since you’d walked in, you felt you were being scrutinised by Tony Stark. “It’s not a judgement sugar – well maybe a little – I only asked so I can have some options brought over to your apartment tomorrow morning, I think I have a pretty good eye if I do say so myself.”

You laughed at him, somehow not doubting his words, Tony was a man of taste and you were certain whatever would be delivered to you would be classy and elegant.

“So, what’s part two of the interview Mr. Stark?” You looked up at him through your lashes, a small smirk on your face, knowing what he was going to say. He was paying for it after all…

Leaning back in his chair, Tony regarded you for a moment before a dark chuckle left his lips, “The second interview is of a more physical nature.”

“Got any outfit requirements for that particular stage of the interview Mr. Stark?” You couldn’t help but tease him, not knowing how exactly he was bringing out this side of you but going with it regardless.

“Oh, I do like you, I definitely made the right choice here,” He murmured, trademark smirk stretching across his lips, and you couldn’t help but let your eyes linger on the sight of them. Noticing your empty glass of wine and throwing a few more bills on the table as a tip, Tony stood, offering you his hand and leading you out of the restaurant, ignoring the hushed whispers as you were seen leaving with him, “Come on, I’ll have my driver take you home.”

Pulling you through the bustling pedestrians on the street, Tony lead you to the sleek black car parked directly outside the restaurant, the man standing outside the vehicle opening the back door for you as you and Tony approached.

“Happy, this is Y/N – Y/N this is Happy, my driver and personal security. If all goes well, you two will be seeing a lot of each other,” Tony introduced you to each other and Happy held out his hand for you to take, a warm smile on his face, he sure seemed to live up to his name.

“Nice to meet you Miss,” He nodded his head in greeting.

“Oh, no please call me Y/N, I insist.”

“Hap, we’re taking Y/N home to Brooklyn,” Tony gestured for you to get into the car as he gave Happy your address before joining you, the door shutting behind him as Happy jogged to the driver’s seat.

The car pulled away, heading into the busy New York traffic and you began to think about what tomorrow would bring. The feeling of Tony’s hand on your bare thigh brought you out of your thoughts, the simple touch sending a jolt of electricity through you that you couldn’t decipher.

Turning your head, your eyes lock with Tony’s who was already watching you. Now that you were much closer to him, you could see the little details of his features that had gone unnoticed before; the lines around his eyes that were a small indicator of his age, the different shades of brown that made up the colour of his eyes, the way his lower lashes seemed so damn prominent, the small sprinkling of silver hair in his perfectly groomed beard.

Once again, you found your gaze lingering on his lips, wanting nothing more than to lean forward and taste them. But you shook the thought from your head, now wasn’t the time.

“I’ll have your dresses brought over in the morning, probably some shoes too – You know what I’ll just get you a whole outfit, you’re going to want to accessorise right?”

“Wait – dresses, as in plural? How many do I need?” You were kind of shocked that he was so willing to buy you so much even though it wasn’t exactly official yet. Hell, he’d just bought you dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in New York without even batting an eye, it was a concept you really weren’t familiar with, being so unconcerned with money.

Tony merely arched a brow at you, “Well yeah, it’s nice to have options. Just make sure you’re ready by 7:30, I’ll send Happy to come pick you up.”

You felt the car come to a stop and realised you were outside your apartment building, “Yeah ok, ready by 7:30 - I can do that.”

Happy walked over to open your door for you but before you could leave, Tony was pulling a card out of the inside pocket of his jacket, handing it over to you before telling you to ring if there was anything else you needed. Turning the card over in your fingers, you saw the logo of Stark industries imprinted into the black card, the gold letters catching in the low light of the car, a phone number visible under them.

“I will. I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then Mr. Stark.” You had no idea why you did it, but you couldn’t stop yourself, leaning towards him to press a lingering kiss against his cheek.

You heard the deep chuckle that Tony emitted as you left the car, bidding Happy goodbye as he walked you to your building door, making sure everything was ok before going back to the car.

You entered your apartment with a sigh, kicking off your heels at the door before a disbelieving laugh bubbled from your throat. You had just had dinner with Tony Stark. Tony Stark wanted to be your sugar daddy. You were going to one of the high-class events at the Plaza tomorrow with Tony Stark.

How the hell had this happened?

Your whirring thoughts were broken by the ding of your phone, an alert coming through from Babble Babe, you rolled your eyes at the notification on your phone before opening the app.

Spotted: Tony Stark and new girl leaving one of NYC’s hottest restaurants. Where do we place the bets on how long this one lasts? Good luck new girl, dating a Stark is a dangerous game to play xoxo

The photo of you was of your back – Thank God – but you were amazed at how damn fast this trashy gossip site worked. God knows how they would react tomorrow. Pushing the feeling of dread aside, you stripped out of your dress and fell into the welcoming warmth of your bed, your final thoughts of the public appearance you and Tony were going to be making tomorrow.

a/n: i don’t have a tag list but if you want alerts please follow @angelicthorwrites and turn on notifications

#tony x reader #tony stark x reader #tony stark x you #tony stark series #iron man x reader #angelicthorwrites

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11tumbler · 7 years ago

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Mystery at Bayer Manor 10

Jeffrey comes into the parlour. He and Claudia set up 7 tables for them. “On the desks are books that contain pictures, puzzles and questions. You must solve each page, call Claudia or me over to check then you are permitted to grab a symbol chip.“ Jeffrey holds up the discs with the symbols painted on them. “You will then decide what secret passage door to go to and see if your symbol matches. If it does hold it up so the cameras can see and the door will be opened for you. If not come back here and you will need to solve another puzzle, get another chip and so on. Hold on to all your chips because you might see a door that has a symbol you previously pulled. All of the bedrooms are also open so remember to check those doors too.” This was like memory, you had to remember where you saw the doors with the symbols you had. “Whoever discovers the whereabouts of Tyler first will get a fact about each guest.”

Everyone stands at their desks. They all start. Lisle and Benjamin find the missing object in their pictures first and they get chips and are off. Kym finds it, digs a chip out of the bag, then she’s off. She tries the library first, it’s a diamond and she has squiggly lines. Back to the desks to solve another puzzle. Robert wasn’t there when she got back, he must have solved his puzzle too. The puzzles get harder as they go. Soon people have enough chips that they are using existing chips to go to doors whose symbols they remember. Each passage that opens has a clue about Tyler’s location or how he died. The game goes on for over an hour. Then Kym hears a scream. “I got it!” Lisle yells.

Everyone makes their way to the library and finds Tyler’s body shoved behind the secret passage. No one could see a visible means of death. Jeffrey comes in. “You all should have the information to determine how Tyler died.” He then hands Lisle a big brown envelope. “This is the bonus information.” Staff come and remove the body. “I guess we will not get an autopsy report,” Brittany says. Then she leans over by Robert, “I was able to get some good information if you want to work together.” He’s so nice about saying no. “Oh thanks, but I need to try to organize the info I got.“ He just walks off towards the parlour. They had about an hour before lunch. Lisle grabbed Kym. “Hey, do you want to see everything in this envelope?” she whispers. “Oh thank you, but you won that. Just keep it to yourself, maybe you can win this.” Robert had gone up to his room. Lisle goes to her room to go through the info. Kym heads outside and sits at the table. Benjamin comes outside also and sits at the table. “Did you want to be alone?” “Oh no you’re fine,” Kym replies. “How do you think the game is going?” “Alright I guess. I was a bit put off at the beginning, but now I feel ok.” “Is that because Robert has been helping you?” “Oh yes, he’s been lovely.” “He seems to really like you.“ Kym was a bit embarrassed by the way he said that. “So…… are the feelings mutual?” Now he was really making her uncomfortable. “Well uhm yes, I mean he’s so nice.” “Yea and rich!” Ben adds. “What do you mean?” Kym asks defensively. “Come on, you didn’t see that Rolex on his wrist. And I’ve seen him on tv before, like MSNBC, he’s the CEO of some big company. Women never fall for guys for all the right reasons.” That upset Kym, “Excuse me?” She gets up and leaves.

Kym heads upstairs, she isn’t sure if she just wants to be alone in her room or talk to Robert. She knocks on Robert’s door. He opens it. “Hey. I was just going to go look for you. I thought you’d be up here a lot sooner.” “Oh I was just sitting outside.” She wants to say more, but stops. “What’s wrong?” Robert asks concerned. Kym wasn’t sure how to approach the subject and unfortunately she just blurted things out. “What kind of watch do you wear?” Robert was confused by the question. “This?” He holds up his wrist, showing her his blue faced DateJust 36 Rolex. “It’s a Rolex? Why?” Kym was so embarrassed to say why. “How much does it cost?” “This watch? I think it was about $10,000.” “10,000 for a watch? Do you have more than one?” “Yea, I have a few, but why?” He reaches out and starts gently rubbing her arm. “What’s with the sudden interest in my watches?” Kym is embarrassed, “When I was outside, Benjamin came over and insinuated that I like you because you’re rich.” Robert laughs, he wraps Kym up in a hug. His arms feel so nice around her. “Don’t pay any attention to what he says. And the fact that you didn’t even know what type of watch I wore tells me everything I need to know.” Kym stays in his embrace. “Do you think that’s why Brittany was hitting on you?” “More than likely.” “I thought it was just because you were good looking.” Robert pulls away from her and laughs, “Well, of course that!” he jokes. Kym laughs at him. “Come here, lets sit down.” They sit on the floor and rest their backs against the bottom of the bed, which had been moved back by staff so everyone could access the secret passages before. “I thought we could go through all the clues we got from the game,” Robert suggests. “You know Lisle offered to share her information with me, but I said no, it would have felt like cheating, she won that fair and square.” “They didn’t say you couldn’t work with someone else, just look at us.” He smiles at her. They start going through the clues, Kym still just had hers in her mind and she hadn’t written anything down yet. Robert spent the past 30 minutes putting everything into his notebook. Kym smiles, he was so easy to talk to, they can hold a good conversation, he makes her laugh and he’s just a really nice guy.

They talk until lunchtime. Lisle, Dave and Betty see them walk out of Robert’s room together. Lisle smirks and Kym just rolls her eyes at her. “I wonder who’s going to die next?” Brittany asks. “I wish we could vote on who we want to go, I think that would be more fun.” Kym was sure Brittany was talking about her, but she didn’t care. “So what kind of information did you get?” Benjamin asks Lisle. “Well now I know your deepest darkest secret,“ she responds staring at Benjamin. She doesn’t say anything else and just lets people think.

#sharkaroo fanfiction #mysterymanor

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un-enfant-immature · 6 years ago

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How the 22-year-old founders of Brex built a billion-dollar business in less than 2 years

When Brazilian-born Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi met at 16 years old, they bonded over a love of coding and mutual frustrations with their strict mothers, who didn’t understand their Mark Zuckerberg-esque ambitions.

To be fair, their moms’ fear of their hacking habits only escalated after their pre-teen sons received legal notices of patent infringements in the mail. A legal threat from Apple, which Franceschi received after discovering the first jailbreak to the iPhone, is enough to warrant a grounding, at the very least.

Their parents implored them to quit the hacking and stop messing around online.

They didn’t listen.

Today, the now 22-year-olds are announcing a $125 million Series C for their second successful payments business, called Brex, at a $1.1 billion valuation. Greenoaks Capital, DST Global and IVP led the round, which brings their total raised to date to about $200 million.

San Francisco-based Brex provides startup founders access to corporate credit cards without a personal guarantee or deposit. It’s also supported by the likes of PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, the former chief executive officer of Visa Carl Pascarella and a handful of leading venture capital firms.

“Brex is off to one of the most exciting starts we’ve ever seen,” IVP’s Somesh Dash said in a statement.

The financing makes them some of the youngest unicorn founders in history and puts them in a rare class of startups that have galloped into unicorn territory at such a fast clip. Brex was founded in the winter of 2017. It only launched publicly in June 2018.

How’d they do it?

“I’ve had two failed attempts, one successful attempt and one on the way to being a successful attempt,” Brex CEO Dubugras told TechCrunch while reciting a lengthy resume.

At 14, when most of us were worrying about what the first year of high school would bring us, Dubugras was more concerned about what his next business attempt would be. He had already built a successful online game but was forced to shut it down after receiving those patent infringement notices.

Naturally, he used the cash he earned from the game to start a company — an education startup meant to help Brazilian students apply to American schools. He himself was hoping to get into Stanford and had learned quickly how little Brazilian students understood of the U.S. college application process.

In some respects, the company was a success. It garnered 800,000 users but failed to make any money. His small fortune wasn’t enough to scale the business.

“There aren’t a lot of VCs in Brazil that are willing to fund 15-year-olds,” Dubugras told TechCrunch.

Shortly after folding the edtech, he met Franceschi, a Brazilian teen from Rio — Dubugras is from São Paulo — who understood his appetite for innovation and was just as hungry for success. The pair got to talking and because of Franceschi’s interest in payments, they started Pagar.me, the “Stripe of Brazil.”

Pagar.me raised $30 million, amassed a staff of 100 and was processing up to $1.5 billion in transactions when it sold. Finally, they had a real success under their belt. Now it was time to relocate.

“We wanted to come to Silicon Valley to build stuff because everything here seemed so big and so cool,” Dubugras said.

And come to Silicon Valley they did. In the fall of 2016, the pair enrolled at Stanford. Shortly after that, they entered Y Combinator with big dreams for a virtual reality startup called Beyond.

“I think three weeks in we gave it up,” Dubugras said. “We realized we aren’t the right founders to start this business.”

He credits Y Combinator with helping him realize what they were good at — payments.

As founders themselves, Dubugras and Franceschi were hyper-aware of a huge problem entrepreneurs face: access to credit. Big banks see small businesses as a risk they aren’t willing to take, so founders are often left at a dead-end. Dubugras and Franceschi not only had a big network of startup entrepreneurs in their Rolodex, but they had the fintech acumen necessary to build a credit card business designed specifically for founders.

So, they scrapped Beyond and in April 2017, Brex was born. The startup picked up momentum quickly, so much so that the pair decided to drop out of Stanford and pursue the business full time.

Simplifying financial access

Brex doesn’t require any kind of personal guarantee or security deposit and it doesn’t use third-party legacy technology; its software platform is built from scratch.

It simplifies a lot of the frustrating parts of corporate expenses by providing companies with a consolidated look at their spending. At the end of each month, for example, a CEO can easily see how much the entire company spent on Uber or Amazon.

Plus, Brex can give entrepreneurs a credit limit that’s as much as 10 times higher than what they’d receive elsewhere and they can issue cards, virtual cards at least, moments after the online application is complete.

“We have a very similar effect of what Stripe had in the beginning, but much faster because Silicon Valley companies are very good at spending money but making money is harder,” Dubugras explained.

As part of their funding announcement, Brex said it will launch a rewards program built with the needs and spending patterns of founders in mind. Beyond that, they plan to use the capital to hire engineers and figure out how to grow the business’s client base beyond only tech startups.

“We want to dominate corporate credit cards,” Dubugras said. “We want every single company in the world, whenever they do businesses expenses, to do it on a Brex card.”

Brazil’s tech startups begin to expand globally

#TechCrunch

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alfredrserrano · 5 years ago

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TRD‘s annual ranking of the top brokerages in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties

(Illustration by Jungyeon Roh)

Real estate brokerages in South Florida are facing tumultuous times.

The industry is changing: Companies are being bought and sold, stocks of publicly traded firms like Realogy are falling, and disruptors such as Zillow Offers and other iBuying firms that bypass the agent are entering the market. “There are just seismic shifts that create uncertainty,” said Beth Butler, Compass’ director of new development in the Southeast. “And [agents think,] ‘Maybe I need to move. Should I look at other things?’”

With sales in a slump, the top brokerages in the region are playing offense, whether they’re adding ancillary services for customers as a way to enhance profitability, or growing by acquiring smaller firms or agent groups or luring high-profile agents by boosting incentives.

“We’re playing a game of musical chairs,” said Phil Gutman, president of Brown Harris Stevens Miami. “We’re at a difficult time. The market is just doing so-so, and when the market is doing so-so, the agents start to look around because their first inclination is that their brokerage is the issue, instead of market conditions.”

In fact, competition between brokerages for the best talent is tougher than ever before, said Gutman and others, including Butler. Compass, which has raised $1.5 billion in capital, is largely viewed as among the most aggressive in luring agents since it launched in South Florida four years ago. It now has 800 agents in nine offices across four counties after doubling its agent numbers in just the past year.

“I don’t remember this kind of environment existing at this level in the 30 years I have been doing this,” Butler said. “It really has become an environment where top agents can shop their offers and come up with whatever suits them best.”

Indeed, top producers can catapult a firm’s sales volume. The Real Deal’s latest brokerage ranking analyzed the top residential brokerages in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, based on closed sales from July 15, 2018, through June 15, 2019. TRD obtained the data from multiple sources and confirmed the sales totals with the brokerages themselves. The findings showed that in Miami-Dade, One Sotheby’s International Realty took the lead spot with $1.46 billion in volume. In Broward, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate led the list with $1.54 billion in volume, and in Palm Beach County, it was the Keyes Company with $1.76 billion in volume.

Recruiting top agents is a key to growth. “People go into the market and grow aggressively quickly, because you have to hope to make it up in volume — that is the only way to compete in South Florida,” Butler said.

To get top agents, without a doubt, money talks.

In South Florida, agents with strong production may get a range of incentives from brokerages, including upfront cash incentives, big marketing budgets, cash to offset lost commissions from changing companies, a free assistant or a year-paid assistant, office space and/or a guaranteed number of referrals, Butler said. The overall compensation package also includes high splits, which brokerages say can range from 80 to 90 percent for the agent.

It all points to a highly competitive industry, brokers say.

“Big players are pouring a significant amount of money to grow, and grow not necessarily profitably,” said Edgardo Defortuna, founder, president and CEO of Fortune International Group.

“That creates a very significant pressure on both agents and companies,” he added. “Agent splits are at a high 80 to 90 percent for top agents, and some companies are also willing to pay a signing bonus.”

Indeed, recruiting can cause friction, and Gutman calls some firms’ recruiting methods “questionable.” Some have tried to recruit some of his agents, “claiming we were for sale. We are not for sale,” he said. “Most of us that have been here in the real estate industry for the past decade have a mutual respect and don’t actively poach each other’s agents … Recent firms that have infiltrated the market don’t show the same respect.”

The huge splits are a short-sighted incentive, according to the president of One Sotheby’s International Realty, Daniel de la Vega.

“Once some of these companies start to realize that they cannot be profitable giving away the house the way they do, they have to adjust to reality,” he said. “We all have desk costs, fixed costs, and a brokerage firm simply cannot operate at a 90 percent split structure. It’s not possible unless some of these companies start changing their split structures and offering ancillary services.”

Buying up the boutiques

While representatives from Compass say they aim to have a 20 percent market share in the region by the end of next year, other firms, too, are looking to show off their market muscle with more robust headcounts. For many, that means acquiring smaller brokerages and broker teams. One Sotheby’s International Realty, for example, is planning to make three acquisitions in the next two months, according to de la Vega.

“They are companies that have like-minded agents that specialize in luxury,” he said, declining to disclose the firms. With the acquisitions, One Sotheby’s will go from about 900 agents to close to 1,000, he said. That’s in sync with its strategy to expand into new markets, boost its digital presence and improve its market share on the general side of the business as well as in new development, de la Vega said.

Similarly, firms can grow by “fold-ins,” or incorporating teams from other firms. The Keyes Company, for example, recently brought over the Coloney Group’s 30-person team in Fort Lauderdale, said Mike Pappas, Keyes’ president and CEO. The team left Related ISG International Realty.

Fortune International Group recently brought on 10 agents from a small, independent firm, which had covered Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach. They closed their office and joined Fortune, Defortuna said, declining to name the firm.

Douglas Elliman, which now counts 1,200 agents in 22 offices in Florida, brought on David Siddons and his five-agent team from EWM Realty International in July. That same month, Elliman picked up the four-agent Cassis Burke Collection team from Brown Harris Stevens Miami. In 2014, Elliman had $300 million in sales and 100 agents; it now has 12 times the number of agents and is on track to close $5 billion in sales, including new development, this year, said Jay Parker, CEO of the Florida brokerage.

“We’re always looking to expand into the markets that fit our strategy of being in all the markets our clients want to be in,” Parker said. “So we’re looking at the west coast [of Florida], pockets on the east coast [of the state] — considering areas north of Jupiter, looking at Aventura and the Sunny Isles market.”

Coldwell Banker, for its part, has added such high-profile agents as Denise Rubin in Aventura, who joined Aug. 30 from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty; and Judy Zeder, Nathan Zeder and Kara Zeder Rosen, who left EWM Realty International in March to join the Jills at Coldwell Banker, creating the Jills Zeder Group. Coldwell Banker has also signed leases for more space at its Miami Beach office and at an office in West Delray Beach in addition to recently expanding its Boca Raton office, said Nancy Klock Corey, regional vice president for Southeast Florida. Her region now includes 16 offices and 1,600 agents.

For a brokerage to compete today, branding is also paramount, experts say.

Though EWM Realty International sold to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in 2003, it was only this past June that it changed its name to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. The firm currently has 10 offices and about 800 agents in South Florida. President Ron Shuffield said the move allows the firm to better compete with large brokerages.

“While we have been part of the Berkshire Hathaway family for the past 16 years, EWM elected to enhance our brand by enlarging the font size of our name,” Shuffield said. “What that has done for us is give us immediate recognition of being aligned with major brokerages in New York and California and other places in the world, so when people see the Berkshire Hathaway name, they see that this is the same company I am seeing in these other markets.”

Coldwell Banker, too, promotes its vast presence across markets to attract buyers. “Whether they are coming from this country or outside, they see Coldwell Banker and they trust that name. They have seen it before,” Corey said.

Everything but the kitchen sink

Brokers are also trying to become one-stop shops to fatten their bottom lines. Offering clients a full-service home services operation loaded with ancillary products is increasingly considered a winning competitive strategy among local brokerages.

One Sotheby’s is in the process of creating an insurance company that will offer property and casualty coverage by the end of the year, de la Vega said.

“We’re trying to be as vertically integrated as we can be,” he said. “It’s the way brokerages are going to survive in the future, in my opinion.”

Berkshire Hathaway already offers mortgages as well as title and property insurance, Shuffield said. Keyes offers mortgages, insurance and property management and will soon offer “post-closing” services like cable, internet, phone and security hook-ups and home improvement services for the seller through a partner, Pappas said.

Similarly, Compass has launched Compass Concierge, which fronts the cost of home repairs for sellers.

Taking care of agents by providing marketing support, social media and public relations support, as well as direct campaigns and linking agents to New York, are also important, said Gutman, whose firm has 187 agents in Miami-Dade and 100 in Palm Beach County.

At Coldwell Banker, agents are coached on sales skills and time management. The firm provides customer relationship and database management, and even offers top agents wealth management counseling services.

“Retention is as important if not more important than recruiting. If you do so much to bring them in, you want them to stay,” Butler said. “The environment that you cultivate and the culture that you create is what makes people stay. Someone can be offering them more money, but if they feel that this is the place they belong, it’s the glue that keeps people there.”

Amid changing dynamics, aside from attracting and retaining top talent, the advent of iBuying and the specter of shrinking profitability are also expected to remain concerns in the industry.

“The challenge of profitability is shared — everybody has this concern,” Butler said. “For every dollar of commission, if you are keeping 15 or 16 cents, and you’re paying all the expenses, and rents are rising, and you have sales managers and staff, you have to grow fast to have the volume to sustain that. But you also have to identify other sources of income to supplement the brokerage income.”

The post TRD‘s annual ranking of the top brokerages in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties appeared first on The Real Deal Miami.

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/resi-rulers-the-top-firms-in-south-florida/#new_tab via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

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walterfrodriguez · 5 years ago

Text

TRD‘s annual ranking of the top brokerages in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties

(Illustration by Jungyeon Roh)

Real estate brokerages in South Florida are facing tumultuous times.

To get top agents, without a doubt, money talks.

It all points to a highly competitive industry, brokers say.

“Big players are pouring a significant amount of money to grow, and grow not necessarily profitably,” said Edgardo Defortuna, founder, president and CEO of Fortune International Group.

The huge splits are a short-sighted incentive, according to the president of One Sotheby’s International Realty, Daniel de la Vega.

Buying up the boutiques

For a brokerage to compete today, branding is also paramount, experts say.

Everything but the kitchen sink

One Sotheby’s is in the process of creating an insurance company that will offer property and casualty coverage by the end of the year, de la Vega said.

“We’re trying to be as vertically integrated as we can be,” he said. “It’s the way brokerages are going to survive in the future, in my opinion.”

Similarly, Compass has launched Compass Concierge, which fronts the cost of home repairs for sellers.

Amid changing dynamics, aside from attracting and retaining top talent, the advent of iBuying and the specter of shrinking profitability are also expected to remain concerns in the industry.

The post TRD‘s annual ranking of the top brokerages in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties appeared first on The Real Deal Miami.

from The Real Deal Miami & Miami Florida Real Estate & Housing News | & Curbed Miami - All https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/resi-rulers-the-top-firms-in-south-florida/#new_tab via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami & Miami Florida Real Estate & Housing News | & Curbed Miami - All

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kennethherrerablog · 6 years ago

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Wondering How to Invest in Stocks? Get Started Here

The stock market is an intimidating topic. It’s right up there with life insurance, mortgages and filing your own taxes.

In fact, a lot of people don’t even consider stock investing because they assume they don’t have enough money to get started.

Good news: It’s not as scary as you think. And you probably have enough money to start investing right now.

Before we dive into what types of stocks and funds you can invest in, let’s cover the basics.

When you buy a share of a stock, you own a small part of the company. Think of it this way: You have money now, but you hope to make more money later. The company needs money now so it can use it to grow and earn more money later.

Stocks are essentially trading your cash today for a promise of more money down the road.

The downside is if the company performs poorly. In that case, you may lose your investment. The stock market is risky business, which may lead to you to wonder why you shouldn’t just stow your money in a savings account.

Enter funds. An investment fund is a pool of money you can use to invest in various assets, including stocks. By giving small amounts of money to many companies — rather than a lot of money to one company — investment funds are betting on the success of the stock market overall. As a result, they’re much safer.

OK, now we can dive in!

What Different Ways Can I Invest in the Stock Market?

These are the main options for the beginning investor:

Mutual funds

Low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds

Individual stocks

Mutual Funds

Have you ever heard people say they’re trying to “diversify their portfolio?” The first step to doing that is investing in mutual funds.

Mutual funds are investment programs that combine stocks, bonds and cash. This blend of assets gives you a more diverse portfolio.

Then if one stock takes a hit, the effect on you will be relatively small. On the flip side, your overall rate of return won’t skyrocket if a single stock increases in value, either.

Mutual funds are typically managed by professionals. This means you’ll put in less work than if you took care of everything yourself because they buy and sell stocks for you, but you’ll pay for things like commissions and management fees.

Low-Cost Index Funds and Exchange-Traded Funds

Index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are types of investment funds, but the approach is more passive than that of a regular mutual fund.

Rather than being actively managed by a professional, these funds track an index. Indexes such as the S&P 500 track stock market trends by following a sample group of stocks. Costs are low because less work goes into managing these funds.

There are some key differences between index funds and ETFs. The main distinction is that index funds can only be sold or bought at the end of a business day. ETFs, however, can be traded throughout the day — similar to stocks.

Some people prefer ETFs because if a particular stock’s value drops during the business day, they can sell it off rather than waiting until the end of the day, when it could be even lower.

But this nimbleness comes at a price. ETFs have a small trading fee, whereas index funds do not. While some people prefer one over the other, nothing is stopping you from investing in both.

Two big perks of these types of investments are that they are well-diversified and have low fees compared to other actively managed funds.

“One of the biggest things that erodes your investment gains is fees,” said Robert Farrington, founder and CEO of The College Investor. “The less fees, the more money you can keep in your pocket.”

Individual Stocks

As a beginning investor, your mind might go to big name companies like Apple, Nike or Netflix. You may be tempted to think: If only I invested in a few shares of Apple in 1980, I’d be a millionaire!

While buying stock in individual companies is certainly an option, for new investors, it’s not the wisest one.

First of all, buying stocks individually is a risky way to go. If the stock’s value increases, you could make some major moolah. However, if the value drops and you have a significant amount of money invested, you could lose big.

Second, investing isn’t a novice’s game. Advice from professionals who study companies, industries and stocks will be invaluable. These experts can make much more educated decisions about which stocks to buy. You can reach out to a professional for advice, or you may decide to let them make your stock picks for you through accounts such as mutual funds.

Malik S. Lee, a certified financial planner and founder of Felton & Peel Wealth Management, told us that “people think because they’ve Googled something” that they’re now an expert.

“It can go terribly wrong,” Lee said.

So don’t fall into that trap.

How Much Money Do I Need to Invest in Stocks?

It all depends. Actively managed mutual funds typically have steep minimum investments — in some cases well into the five figures. But there are companies that give you access to top market research and planning professionals with a starting balance of just $2,500.

At the lower end, some self-directed brokerage accounts are free to open and have no minimum account balance, but charge a fee per trade. You can use a brokerage account to invest in index funds, ETFs or even individual stocks.

The amount of money you need to invest in individual stocks depends on the share price and the number of shares you want to buy. For example, at the time of this writing, the share price of Apple is around $190. One share of Netflix would be about $370. The prices of individual stocks fluctuate frequently.

This is, again, why it’s a good idea to get advice before buying individual stocks.

How Do I Start Investing in Stocks?

There are three main ways to get in the game: hire a broker, hire a financial adviser or use a robo-adviser. Which option you choose will depend on your situation and preferences.

Hire a Broker

Do you like the idea of making your own investment decisions? Do you want to invest in individual stocks and mutual funds? If this sounds like your cup of tea, hiring a broker is the way to go.

When you open a brokerage account through a firm such as Fidelity or Charles Schwab, you make most of the decisions, but your broker actually does the work of buying, selling and trading for you. He or she will also provide you with advice should you ask for it.

When you hire a broker, you pay them a commission each time they make a transaction for you. Those fees can add up.

Hire a Financial Adviser

If you’re starting out with just a little money, you may want to hire a financial adviser rather than a broker.

Why? Because you don’t pay a financial adviser a commission for each transaction—instead, you pay a fee that’s a percentage of the assets in your account.

When my husband and I first started investing, we decided to hire a financial adviser over a broker to open our individual IRAs because we could only start with $500 each. Our fees were very low.

Don’t worry, financial advisers are licensed professionals with stock analysis experience. The fees just work differently.

Keep in mind that many companies offer the option of hiring either a broker or a financial adviser, so if you’re on the fence, you can call companies such as LPL Financial or Morgan Stanley to talk with someone in more depth.

There’s another option, though: You could use a robo-adviser.

Use a Robo-Adviser

If the hands-off nature and affordability of index funds and ETFs appeal to you, then a robo-adviser may be the best way to go.

Sign up for an account with a reputable robo-adviser, then input your information and investment goals. The robo-adviser will set up your portfolio for you and track an index, such as the Dow Jones or S&P 500.

Robo-advisers are more objective than brokers and even financial advisers, and you’re omitting the possibility of human error.

Robo-advisers are also the most affordable. You’ll still have to pay management fees, but these tend to be much lower than fees for human advisers.

Need a push in the right direction? Here are three of the best robo-advisers out there:

Wealthfront. Wealthfront will manage your investment account for free as long as your balance remains under $5,000. Once you pass the $5,000 mark, you’ll pay a relatively low annual fee of 0.25%. You only need $500 to get started.

Betterment. With Betterment, you receive the first year of account management for free, then pay an annual fee of 0.25%. The main feature that sets Betterment apart is that no minimum balance is required to open an account.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. Initially, Schwab’s account minimum may throw you off—it’s $5,000. The good news? There are no management fees at all.

While Lee of Felton & Peel sometimes recommends robo-advisers to his clients, he noted that human advisers can take a more holistic approach to your financial plans.

“To put it all together, you still need a human for that.”

Professional, human advice is paramount to stepping wisely and carefully into the investment world. While you’re still a far cry from being a hedge fund expert, now you have some tools to get started.

Laura Grace Tarpley is a freelance writer and editor at FluentU. She spends her free time playing with her puppies, Tuna and Gumbo. Follow her on Twitter @lgtarpley.

Staff writer Adam Hardy contributed to this post.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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