Easy Money

Starting a Rental Property Business

The job of being a landlord is not an easy one, but it has potential for financial reward if it is done right. The first thing to do before anything else is to identify the types of properties for rental, and where they are. Large cities offer a mix of single family homes, small multi-units, and more. All are going to have their own challenges in terms of management, maintenance, and renters, so it’s best to do research beforehand. Consulting someone like Armando Montelongo, who has years of experience with real estate, is a good idea.

The next step is to decide how much maintenance you are willing to deal with. A property that needs work is going to cost less up front, but requires investment to get the property habitable. It does not matter if there were people already living there; you will not get the money you want out of a sub-standard property. However, renters are not expecting to have the best of the best and readily accept a property that is rental-grade. You don’t need to put the most expensive fittings into the building. If you use fresh paint, make sure everything is in working order, and replace worn-out fixtures, you can charge a decent rental rate.

You are going to want to incorporate in order to protect yourself personally from liability. Talk to an accountant or a lawyer about the necessary paperwork and move on from there. This is just the beginning of a long-term business, one that is going to present many challenges down the road.

Filed Under: Businesses

The Importance of Comparing Insurance Quotes

Those who buy insurance from the first company they contact, risk overspending on insurance while much better deals are available. Here is a look at some of the reasons to compare insurance quotes.

It Can Save the Insured Money

Comparing insurance quotes is the best way to save money. If you have just one offer, there’s no way to know how it compares to other companies. The more quotes you have, the easier it is to determine what company is offering the best deal. You might look for an insurance search policy expert, an agent, or someone else with experience in the field for suggestions of companies to contact for rate quotes.

Insurance Comparisons Help to Inform

By comparing insurance quotes, customers will learn about the latest contents insurance deals and the going rate from different insurers. Make sure you use identical information to get insurance quotes. That way, you can be sure the company with the lowest quote is offering the best price.

Insurance Comparisons Are Easy to Do

Some people hesitate to get insurance comparisons because they are afraid the process will be too time-consuming. In reality, there are websites online that will take your information and produce quotes from a number of different insurers. Once you have several price quotes, it’s important to compare your two or three best quotes. Many people are surprised by how easy it is to compare prices and terms in policies. Some companies will even help the customer with the comparison as a way to highlight their offerings.

Filed Under: Investors Tagged With: auto insurance, Insurance policy, Vehicle insurance

Social Codes of Conduct

Image by squareintheteeth via Flickr

All groups have rules, and ways of doing things – written and unwritten. Using online casinos, and running a business are a good way to show this.

If you are trying to get an online casino bonus the number one rule is to be nice, and play by the computer rules. Game formats do not let you do anything except what is allowed. You are able to play casino games with cooperation. At the casino, most frustration occurs because others are being territorial or demanding their way is the only way to play.

When you are running a business the number one rule is to be nice. Every business has rules. Cooperation within the business is a must. Business is all about sharing. It is the ebb and flow of ideas back and forth. That provides the creative juices that make a middle path which satisfies parties involved and makes the money. Too much structure results in stagnation and declining profits. It is all about balance and knowing where to loosen the reins and where to tighten them. That does not mean there will not be conflict or disagreements. Having a basic code of conduct, and a social contract is most important.

A code of conduct provides a place to start, and a social contract provides a means where the parties can compromise, admit certain methods are best, or agree to disagree, but continue to discuss. The idea one group dismissed as not profitable may be the idea the next round that produces the most money. The rules are not a god, but a guideline. A social contract ensures that business in done in a way that is not offensive.

Filed Under: Partners

What Do Financers Look for When Making Loans (or denying loans)

The banker has likely told you to bring in the financial statements of your small business before he helps you get a loan. After talking to the banker you wonder if he even looked at the statements. Chances are, he didn’t . The initial decision of whether a bank will entertain the option to provide you a loan is based more on ratios than on the actual numbers. The ratio of your financial statements will let the banker know if you will be able to pay and if you will pay.
The key to getting that loan is to know how to work the ratios in your favor. A banker wants to know if you can repay the loan. To determine this his finance department will calculate a cash coverage ratio. Find the sum of the net income, the amortization expense and the depreciation expenses. This is the net cash flow of what is left when all of the businesses bills are paid. Divide the sum by the annual payments of the loan you want to take. This is the cash coverage ratio. The banker likes to find a 1.5 or above ratio. To make this ratio work for you simply add your spouses income and any additional income that you have, these can be considered in determining the ratio.

Your credit score will be used to predict if you will pay your future debts, whether short term loans or expensive home mortgages. Your history report will be used to calculate a debt to worth ratio. Divide the shareholders equity by the amount that you owe (your liabilities). This ratio should be less than four times the equity at the most. A lower number will be better. To make this ratio work for you, tell the bank if any of your debtors will allow the bank to collect their loans first. The other loan is then considered equity.

Filed Under: Investors Tagged With: Credit score, Loan, Small business

Keep your Finger on the Pulse of Politics & Government

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It doesn’t matter how well planned, well financed and well run your business is. If you don’t keep track of developments in politics & government, in the areas that affect your business, you could fail. It doesn’t matter how big or small a business might be. Any and every business can be affected by regulations and laws. Some of these regulations are passed without public notice. It pays to stay in tune with regulatory groups.

Exactly who will track developments in the world of regulations depends on the size of your organization. Bigger companies like direct.tv and the like will have entire legal departments to track and lobby for favorable decisions. Smaller firms, like a start-up, may depend on the owner or manager to be this important point of contact. Whomever is in charge of this important function should make the effort to participate in all public meetings and hearings where potential regulations are discussed. This could be local city council or even school board meetings. There is much more information that can be gathered at a meeting like this than can be read in tomorrow’s newspaper. Attending meetings brings another important benefit: networking.

By meeting other attendees and participants at local meetings, decision makers get to know you. This can be vital when you need to voice your opinion on behalf of your organization. Let’s say that the council is ready to vote on a regulation that could cut your company’s profits by 20%. Do you think that the councilman or mayor would rather take a call from a stranger or someone like you, that they know by name. Attending meetings and becoming part of the community where you do business can lead to more involvement in forming policies before they are sent for a vote. This kind of access can be priceless.

Being involved in politics & government can require a lot of time. The benefits of being involved before problems arise can be much more valuable.

Filed Under: Businesses Tagged With: Business, City council, Regulation

4 Tips to Grow Your Business Online

: Image via CrunchBase

Every business owner wants to build their business in the most economical way possible. Instead of paying top dollar for glossy magazine ads, consider using the inexpensive tools that are already at your disposal. The following are four tips on how to build your business online.

Social Networking. Social networking has taken the Internet by storm. Free applications such as Facebook, Triberr and Twitter offer people and businesses a way to interact that has never before been possible. Make sure that you’re promoting your business on as many social platforms as possible.
Web Page. Have the best possible web page that you can and use it for more than just being a catalog of your products or services. Tools like free online surveys, blogs and podcasts are all ways of getting your customer more familiar with your business and this will lead to additional sales.
Selling Online. This doesn’t apply to all businesses but if you are selling a product, consider offering sales through your webpage. It is not difficult to set up an ecommerce website.
Webpage Optimization. Despite Google’s efforts to weed out the chaff clogging its search engines, websites must still vie for top ranking in Google and other search engines in order to increase their exposure. While different people have different thoughts on how to increase a webpage’s ranking, they all agree that quality content using keywords is the way to go. Make sure that your website is filled with high quality and applicable content to help your site get ranked higher.

Using the Internet to grow your business is a prudent and inexpensive decision. Even if you’re unsure how to implement some of these tips, there are professionals out there who can help you.

Filed Under: Businesses, Corporations Tagged With: Facebook, Google, Web search engine

The Business of Finance

Finance is the science of managing money. There are three main areas of finance. Business, personal, and public finance are the three main areas that must be managed. Those in finance are concerned about saving money and lending money. Those who deal with government finance are interested in public finance. Those in business deal with foreign investments and international trading. Individuals can be involved in stocks, bonds, and commodities. Corporations also deal with these investment tools.

The basic components of finance are time, risk, and money. All of these three factors are related in some way. The goal of finance is to save money and invest it in a way that yield profits. The process works the same for business, public, and personal finance;however, public and business finance are on a larger scale, and larger amounts of money are involved in the process.

Good finance includes making wise decisions as to how money is spent and budgeted. Sometimes, it is necessary to use services like Internet Faxing to cut back on expenses. Many people in the U.S. and around the world have become consumers, and they spend more than they save. This mentality has caused people to over spend, and the current recession is a symptom of many things.

Corporations have made some of the same mistakes in investment matters. As a result, investors have suffered substantial losses. The future looks bright for the world. The lessons learned in the past few years have motivated people to look more seriously at finance, foreign investments, and other matters.

In fact, some schools are incorporating these principles into their curriculum in the future. Kids should have more information regarding finance in the years to come, and the economy will eventually become profitable again.

Filed Under: Businesses, Personal Finance Tagged With: Business, Finance, Public finance

The Dangers of Not Educating Kids About Finance

Most American schools do not teach courses in finance. This is truly unfortunate because many adults make poor choices regarding their money because they do not have the knowledge necessary to make good choices. We can’t all forever depend on things like payday loans to survive life. Our nation is a nation of consumers. This is good for business. In fact, international trading is doing well, but many households are suffering from a lack of self-control and good finance choices.

One of the main ways to acquire true wealth is through becoming an investor. People waste tons of money everyday that could be invested. Saving a small amount of money daily could make a huge difference. For example, a person making an average income of around $35,000 can save money monthly. They can then take the savings can invest in stocks, bonds, and other commodities.

It is best to educate yourself about the process;however, a good brokerage firm can truly help a person make sound decisions regarding finance. Government has had to bail out business and some people because of a lack of savvy business and finance practices.

The school is a great place to start educating young people about finance, politics, foreign investments, international trading, and stocks and bonds. Once a young adult is in the workforce, they have already made choices that could impact the rest of their lives. If education included finance topics, perhaps, these adults would be in a better position financially.

Education reform will likely examine hard topics like finance, math, science, and technology. America has to increase the emphasis on these subjects if we hope to compete with other world markets. Countries like China, Japan, and India are quickly advancing in many areas. We have to step up our standards as a nation to stay on the cutting edge of innovation and investments.

Filed Under: Businesses Tagged With: Finance, India, Investment, Japan

Simple Ways to Diversify Your Investment Portfolio

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For many people, paving a secure path to a profitable financial future involves making their money work for them. There is no doubt that investing carries an amount of risk. By diversifying your investments, you can build a portfolio to withstand market fluctuations. Here are a few simple ways to diversify your investments.

Blue chip stocks are held with a Nationally renown company that has a proven reputation. These companies have staying power. Whether markets are good or bad, blue chip stocks are stocks than investors rely on and trust. Such stocks can provide a good component to an investors mix. Examples of blue chip stock include Walmart (WMT), Coca-Cola (CCE), and Google (GOOG). The blue chip stock is one type of stock that you may want to consider further.

A diversified portfolio should include a mix of stocks and bonds. When an investor purchases a bond, the issuer promises to pay a specific amount of interest for the life of the bond. Bonds can be issued by corporations, municipalities and governments. Bonds issued by the federal government are noted as US Treasury Bonds. These bonds have a life of thirty years. Most corporate or municipal bonds have an average of ten.

With the surge of technology, the world has become a more accessible place. Looking into foreign investments appeals to number of portfolio builders. If the thought of playing the market in Japan, Germany, or another country is something you desire, the options are there.

Some investors choose all-in-one funds as an easy method of diversification. These mutual funds are also called retirement or life-cycle funds and typically include a mixture of investments.

Filed Under: Investors, Personal Finance Tagged With: Coca-Cola, Investment, Stock

How to Qualify for Bankruptcy

Just because you think you need to file for bankruptcy, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will qualify to file. There are guidelines that you must meet and follow before filing for chapter 13 or chapter 7. Depending on the guidelines, you may not qualify for one type of bankruptcy but still may be able to file under another.

Obviously, an attorney will be needed. While most bankruptcy attorneys will work with you for their fees, having an attorney to sort through the maze is an absolute necessity. In order to qualify to file for bankruptcy you should not exceed the median state income for your state. This varies from state to state, and you will need to check your state’s guidelines. They are available online, or you can consult with your attorney.

There are also many variables in qualifying to file for bankruptcy. To determine what is the best solution for you and your family, your attorney will take into consideration the number of people who live in your house, the amount of debt you have accumulated and your ability to pay back the debt.

The journey doesn’t stop with a discharge of debt. You may be in a situation where your finances have been restructured and you are paying the debt back little by little. The bankruptcy will follow you, and you will need to have a plan in place to keep the overwhelming debt from taking over again.

If you find that bankruptcy is the best course for you, be honest with yourself and your attorney. Make the changes necessary to live a debt-free life.

Filed Under: Businesses, Investors Tagged With: Bankruptcy, Lawyer, Services