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Paying Off Debt Vs Investment

Mar.14, 2010 in Finance Comments Off

Most of us come to this cross roads in life, which with the excess money, is it advisable to pay off the debt or to invest. Joshua Kennon, an advisor on debt management is of the following view. Debt can be categorized into two types one with high rate of interest and second with lower rate of interest. Credit Cards belong to the first category, they demand higher rate of interest and hence when an individual has more debt in the form of credit card repayment, it is only advisable for him to go ahead and pay off the interest occurring from the credit card and not think about the investment. In case of the second categories of debt, which is lower rate then it, is advisable that he invests in those investments, which gives higher returns. According to Mr. Kennon two things must be taken into consideration, a. What is the rate of return of the investments? b. What is the rate of interest of the various debts? Only if an individual can convince himself that paying off a debt would help him to reduce some of his burden and thereby increase the monthly amount saved.

According to Debt adviser Steve Bucci. There are two methods, which an individual can adopt, one is to pay similar kind of debts i.e. debts having similar interest rates, which are smaller in amount and easier to pay. The second one is to pay the one, which has higher interest rates like credit cards. Accordingly when an individual pays off a number of debts then he feels good about himself and can start concentrating on the next amount of debt to be paid or the investment he would like to venture into. In case of debts, which attracts higher rate of interest, an individual can pay that first such that he is left with more cash later so that he can concentrate on the other debts. But whatever be the choice the individual must chose one, which suits him; the most and can give him more convenience. Steve Bucci also advises that paying off debts must reflect on one’s credit rating. When an individual starts to pay off debts to lender then he is left with lesser debts and his credit rating would go up. This in turn would help him in the long run when he has to take a bigger debt for other types of investment.

Investment Properties 101

Mar.07, 2010 in Finance Comments Off

Late night TV is convinced that investing in real estate is the best way to make a million. Many investors are looking at big returns with no money down. While that is unlikely, it is possible to make money in real estate.

But you have to know that this is simply an investment, and with investments come risk. If you don’t know what you are doing, you could loose a lot.

Investing in real estate takes forethought and preparation. It could be broken into two parts: choosing your investment and exiting your investment.

Choosing your investment

Beginning investors should start with a small project. For example, Justin has been involved in real estate for over ten years now, and has invested in many commercial and residential properties. He has found that the key to his investments are to purchase in a good location.

Justin started with a simple duplex, which he later refinanced to buy a four-plex. He painted and made a few changes to the four-plex, and sold it for a seven-plex. He also bought another four-plex. He renovated the units and made minor repairs and sold it for a decent return.

He found that fixer-uppers really work well if you live nearby and can do most of the work yourself. This cuts your expenses. Justin learned with each investment and learned to be conservative. Don’t let the dollar signs rush you into anything.

Whether you are looking to buy a house, a duplex or an apartment complex, you need to carefully review the property’s economics. Are the rents you plan to charge reasonable? Are your expenses correct? Can you live with the cost of the mortgage? What happens when a unit is empty? Do you still have enough income?

You may not want to be a landlord and prefer to buy a house, fix it and flip it. While you can make a lot of money if you are wise, there are still a lot of issues involved. You have to look at the neighborhood, the market and the budget you have for repairs. Do you have enough money to pay the mortgage if the property does not sell quickly? What if you have to go over budget on necessary repairs? What if things are uncovered that devalue the home? What will you do then?

Large cities tend to be better investment areas than small towns because there are more tenants and buyers. Communities on freeways are attractive as investments due to the access to metro areas. Vacation areas and towns are also fairly stable.

Exiting your investment

Things happen. The economy, interest rates, job opportunities and construction trend impact every real estate investor. You need to watch the trends and keep in touch with local brokers, appraisers, investors and real estate attorneys.

No matter what you are investing in, you need an exit strategy. You need to know when you will sell, if you will take money and pay taxes or complete an IRS 1031 tax deferred exchange. Does your plan include enough money for your retirement? Will you pay off the property or refinance it and use the proceeds to buy another investment? What if the value of the home drops?

A weak economy is something you should watch. You need to know if a depressed market will pull out of it or last. This tells you when to exit. If you can’t find buyers when you are ready to sell, what will you do? Can you restructure your mortgage or have it assumed by a buyer. Check out what loan assumption costs are and if financing terms change with an assumption. You should research your financing options before you make any decisions, paying attention to more than just interest rates.

You need to think well into the future. Plan for the best and the worst. If you invest with a friend, what will happen if they need to pull out? Do you have enough money to handle emergencies or will you need to liquidate the real estate?

Your exit strategy is vital in making your decisions for the future. Plan with your goals in mind. The key is to take your time, pick the right property and live with what happens. In the worst case, the market goes away from where you expect and the value of the home goes down — at least you can have the tenants pay for the mortgage.

Tags: Investment Properties

Small Business Credit Cards: Make Your Accountant Obsolete

Feb.18, 2010 in Finance Comments Off

Small business credit cards can play an important role in the success of many enterprises and small businesses. Yet currently most folks view of small business credit cards is extremely limited. Mostly they only think of them as tools to aid them in obtaining certain incentives for small businesses that credit cards have become famous for giving.

Problems That A Small Business Credit Card Can Solve

The more significant potential role that small business credit cards can play is that of helping entrepreneurs manage their businesses more efficiently and easily by greatly simplifying the accounting and financial record keeping tasks. There is no doubt that this is a critical area in the management of the affairs of any business and yet keeping constantly updated and accurate records is quite a challenge for any small business.

Many people thought that with the advent of popular and easy to use small business software accounting packages like Quickbooks, this problem was gone forever. Alas, some old problems persisted. One of them was that somebody still had to enter the details and somebody still had to keep all the receipts. Then there is always the struggle to separate personal expenses from business expenses for a small business. Not to mention the need to divide all the expenses into various different categories for tax reasons.

All these headaches instantly create the position for a full-time, experienced and therefore expensive accountant for any small business.

How Small Business Credit Card Reporting Systems Work Magic

Most small business credit card statements are very detailed and immediately eliminate the cumbersome need to get and carry around receipts with you. Small business credit card statements can easily be categorized and dividing personal and business expenses is a breeze.

What makes things even easier is the fact that these detailed reporting systems are accessible online and statements can easily be downloaded directly into most of the popular small business accounting packages around. What this means is that there is no need of getting somebody to key in your expenses into the system with all the possibilities of errors and omissions.

So with one master genius stroke of getting a small business credit card and ensuring that all expenses are paid using it, any small enterprise instantly creates a highly efficient and paperless accounting system that virtually requires no manpower.

You really need to have gone through the hassles of keeping track of your expenses by physically collecting and keeping receipts to appreciate how much of a relief a small business credit card accounting system can be.

Even if you choose to retain your accountant (which you should if you can afford him), they will now get involved in doing other more useful tasks that will impact even more directly on the success of your small business like researching for lower cost vendors and generally finding new ways to reduce costs and expenses for the small business. Meanwhile your small business credit card reporting system will accomplish most of the time-consuming daily tasks of the past. And let’s not forget, the frequent flyer, cash back, and other rewards small business credit cards offer are great too!

Should You Retire?

Feb.12, 2010 in Finance Comments Off

Have you have reached retirement age and are contemplating whether to retire or not? Are you torn between retiring to your golden years or continuing to work for a few more? Here are a few tips to make your decision a little less painful.

1. Consider Your Age

If you are in the 55 to 65 age range, retirement will already seem attractive to you. First of all consider your age. Realistically speaking, we only have limited number of years on this earth. Look at what you would still like to accomplish with those remaining years. Would you like to spend time going around the world? Or do you have any goals you wish to fulfill if it weren’t for the daily grind of work? If that is so then you can factor in these goals and lay out a time table for your retirement and activities afterwards.

Another age-related issue to consider is your ‘actual age.’ You actual age is a measurement to verify how old your body really is. Have ever wondered why some people look about 5 years younger than they really are? This could be because their bodies really are of that age. The factors that determine this aging are genetics, health habits, diet and others. If you feel that your physical age is way beyond working, you may choose to retire.

2. Health

Is your health preventing you from being productive in the workforce? Or is your health making work more uncomfortable for you as time passes by? You may want to check with a doctor for a total health evaluation before considering continuing with work

3. Family

Some people will want to spend more time with their families as the twilight years approach. You may want to factor this into your decision to retire.

4. Finances

Will you be financially capable of sustaining your lifestyle well after retirement? If your retirement savings are not up to par with your spending lifestyle after retirement, you may want to stick it out with work for a little while longer. You also have to consider the fact that some retirement plans become more attractive if you retire later. But if you have saved up enough finances to tide you over those needs and enough to cover unexpected expenses such as medical fees, etc. as well as expenses for your planned vacation trips and other goals, you will want to retire early.

Also consider the fact that many people who retire find out that life without an occupation will turn out to be very boring. You may want to keep in touch with your employer so that he or she may offer jobs that you can do on part-time basis such as consultancy, filling in for those on vacation, etc.

Protecting Your Assets

Feb.05, 2010 in Finance Comments Off

Have you ever wondered what would happen to your assets if you were sued, in a car accident and it was your fault or if you became disabled or even died? Most people consider this question but do very little about taking the necessary steps to protect their assets.

The first thing to do is to have a plan in place before anything bad happens to you. Even if you are one of the luck ones and nothing ever bad happens, eventually as a fact, everyone dies.

When you die, your bank accounts are frozen, and an executor is appointed to wrap up your estate. This means finding everyone you owed money to, and settling the debts. If you have a family, and all your assets are in your own name, your spouse could be unable to access your funds for up to 2 years.

There are three major concerns when it comes to protecting your assets: estate duties, income taxes, and lawsuits.

Estate duties
When you die, the government claims a percentage of the value of your estate. This amount varies from country to country, and it could be anything from 20% to as much as 55%.

The solution to the estate duty problem is to ensure that your estate is worth as little as possible when you die. Moving your assets into a living trust could be a good solution, as the trust is not taxed upon your death.

Income tax
How do you legally reduce your tax liability? One way is to decrease your income to an absolute minimum. Anything you need could be paid for by a business. For instance, if you need a new laptop, it could be paid for by your corporation or living trust. It is a legitimate business expense, as long as you use it for generating income, and not just for playing games.

The expenses of a business are deducted from its income before taxes are calculated. For individuals working for an employer, taxes are deducted before you even get your paycheck. That means that your personal expenses are paid for with after-tax income. If a separate legal entity can pay some of these expenses, it reduces the amount of money you need to earn, and the amount of tax you need to pay.

Lawsuits
The first thing that happens when someone wants to sue you is that his or her lawyer will try to find out what you are worth.

It is not difficult to find out someone’s net worth by examining public records. These days, on the internet, it is even easier. What you need to do is look like a poor target. This could mean transferring as many assets as possible into a separate legal entity, which you do not own, but do control. This could be a living trust, or a corporation.

It might also mean that you ensure that properties in your own name are mortgaged to the hilt, so that your net asset value (the difference between what you own and what you owe) is as low as possible. Ideally, you want your assets and your income to be as small as possible, so that you are not worth suing you.

In conclusion
Everyone has different financial needs. Laws are different from country to country, and from state to state. It is essential that you get professional advice from a competent financial advisor before doing anything.

If you are in financial trouble, it is already too late. If you transfer assets in order to put them out of reach of your creditors, it may be seen as fraudulent and illegal. You need to have a plan in place before you are sued, and before anyone tries to take your assets away.

You may think that you are too young to worry about asset protection, but it is not too early to get a plan in place. It is a cliché, but still true: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

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Paying Off Debt Vs Investment

Investment Properties 101

Small Business Credit Cards: Make Your Accountant Obsolete

Should You Retire?

Protecting Your Assets

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