Category Archives: Advice on Money

Suze Orman Shares Investing Common Sense With Women & Money

Photo from Fickr

By Lisa Manyon

Women & Money ~ Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

Money is a topic you either embrace or avoid. Orman’s book delivers straight talk on investing for women and building individual wealth.

Personally I’ve always known just enough about investing to put some money away each month and I rely on financial advisers to steer me in the right direction.

Suze shares a candid look at her life and how she got to where she is now. Plus she offers a no nonsense approach to making sure women begin to really think about taking care of their own business.

With an uplifting vein of optimism about what is possible throughout the book, Orman successfully illustrates traits and tactics to help women thoughtfully approach investing.

Orman’s 8 qualities of wealthy women have been shared on national talk shows and cannot be stressed enough.

Qualities 1 and 2 are harmony and balance. These are said to be the most important qualities because they are the foundation for all other qualities.

Quality 3 is courage. Orman writes that “Courage gives harmony expression. When your thoughts and feelings are one, courage helps you manifest them in the form of words and actions.”

Quality 4 is generosity. Orman points out that women tap into this almost too quickly. We tend to be overly generous with our time, support, love and money. The true measure of generosity, according to Orman, is being able to allow money to come into your hands and out through your heart.

This was a concept I can relate to. Orman challenges women to look at why and what they give and how it makes them feel. She also offers six rules for giving (but, you’ll have to grab a copy of the book to find out what these are).

Quality number 5 is happiness. According to Orman when you find the courage to live your life in harmony and balance, you understand and practice generosity, happiness will spontaneously appear.

And perhaps the most important point she shares about happiness is this; “Happiness is not a luxury. It is a necessity for true wealth.”

Quality number 6 comes in the form of wisdom. Who doesn’t want to be wiser?

According to Orman, wisdom is more than intellectual and not directly related to education. Wisdom is an express result of tapping into your core beliefs to make the right decisions for yourself.

The 7th quality is cleanliness and is all about the importance of order and organization. A laundry list of situations that subtract from your wealth status include;

– Not knowing where your money is
– Not having a systematized filing system for important documents
– Pulling crumpled bills and receipts out of your purse
– Maintaining a vehicle that looks like a garbage can
– Having closets that are filled with junk and clutter.

I am sure most of us can relate to at least one area we need to work on. I have to admit, as organized as I am, I could relate to a couple of those scenarios. Orman’s philosophy really makes sense and I’ve corrected my personal problem areas. My first order of business was donating clothing I had not used or worn in the past year to charity.

The final quality is beauty. Orman ties all the qualities together by noting beauty is what you achieve when all the qualities are combined.

To some it may seem strange that the qualities of wealthy women are included in a book on investing. However, if you personally don’t possess the qualities it will not be as easy for you to achieve your wealth potential.

In addition to the foundational building blocks Orman shares solid advice on choosing the right investor, the importance of having one personal savings account in your name only and discusses investment options in layman’s terms so anyone can get started right way.

This article may be reproduced in its entirety with the following inclusion: Lisa Manyon specializes in POWERFULLY communicating your marketing messages to increase results. She’s a Professional copywriter and Marketing strategist. Her work has been featured by the National Association of Women Writers, Absolute Write, Copywriting TNT, Lewiston Tribune and more. Manyon works directly with Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero as the Red Hot Communications GOLD Copywriting Mentorship Managing Director, is the first professional copywriter in Idaho to earn Glazer -Kennedy’s Creating Copy That Sells certification and the Copywriting Expert for the Association of Web Entrepreneurs. Manyon specializes in making life easier for business owners and entrepreneurs by knocking one more thing off their “to do “list. She accomplishes this with her copywriting expertise and commitment to long-term business relationships. Get a Free Copywriting Action Plan & discover 7 Power-packed Insider Tricks of the Copywriting Trade to Dramatically Increase Sales of your Products & Services http://www.lisamanyon.com

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How to Improve Your Financial IQ

How to Improve Your Financial IQ

Stop avoiding your numbers–there’s nothing to be afraid of and everything to gain.

By Peri Pakroo

From Entrepreneur.com

Like many things we know are good for us–exercise, getting a good night’s sleep, laying off the French fries–keeping careful track of yourbusiness‘s finances is one of those must-do tasks to keep your business healthy. Nevertheless, a huge number of business owners neglect their numbers, and their businesses pay the price.

I tend to see two main types of financial blow-off:

  1. Fully neglecting to track income and expenses by letting receipts pile up (or get lost) and failing to enter data into a bookkeeping system.
  2. Doing a decent job of keeping income and expense records up to date, but failing to use the numbers to answer questions about the business’s financial situation.

While I’ve definitely known more than a few business owners guilty of the abject neglect described in item 1 (you know who you are), the second type of financial ignorance is practically an epidemic among owners of small to medium-size businesses. Over and over I hear owners admit sheepishly, “I don’t do enough with the numbers.” If you merely keep up with the basics, you might avoid true financial disaster. But you’ll definitely miss opportunities to thrive if you don’t use your data to make strategic decisions.

Getting Over the Hump
If you’ve had your head in the sand about your business’s finances, take heart: You are not alone (by a long shot). Tons–tons–of successful business owners loathe dealing with numbers. They regard financial management with fear, anxiety, insecurity or some combination of the above. Typically, they say they are simply too busy running the business to deal with tracking income and expenses or analyzing the numbers.

The good news is that affordable bookkeeping software automates most of the work, from tracking account balances to generating sophisticatedfinancial reports, putting essential financial information at your fingertips. If you really hate working with numbers or truly don’t have the time to do so, have a competent employee or outside bookkeeper do the job.

However, as the owner of the business and the person responsible for guiding it, you do need to be in the know about your business’s finances. So if you hire someone to do most of the financial management tasks, make sure you’re in the loop and that you understand what the numbers mean. Don’t be shy about asking for guidance or mentoring from an accountant or bookkeeper. If you feel insecure about your level of financial knowledge, you’re in good company. Just make a sustained effort to learn as you go.

Financial Management in a Nutshell
The trick with bookkeeping is to establish a system early to help you stay organized. By “system” I mean a simple process for organizing your receipts and files, as well as having bookkeeping software set up and configured. With a system in place, you’ll definitely be able to handle most or all of your bookkeeping tasks, even if you’ve never done them before. I typically break financial management down into three broad steps.

1. Keeping and organizing records of expenses and income: Financial management starts with keeping records of all the money the business spends (expenses) and all the money it earns (income). This means carefully keeping and organizing your receipts and expense records (such as bills from the office supply store, invoices from your web-hosting company, and receipts of payments to your employees and freelancers) and your income receipts (such as a cash register tape of your café’s income, check stubs from your client’s payment checks, or your invoices to clients marked “Paid”).

2. Entering this information into bookkeeping software: On some periodic basis–maybe monthly for a small consulting business and daily for a busy café or retail store–you’ll enter the information from your income and expense receipts into a bookkeeping system. More often than not, this will be some sort of financial management software such as QuickBooks or MYOB.

3. Generating financial reports: Finally, with up-to-date information entered into your bookkeeping system, you’ll generate reports such as a profit/loss report or cash-flow projection (described below) to reveal how your business is doing.

Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Again, setting up a system will make a huge difference when it comes to entering and categorizing data in your bookkeeping software. With your data entered, you’ll be all set to do the important (and actually quite fun) part of financial management: generating reports showing you the financial health (or illness) of your business.

Often, business owners have such poor systems in place they barely manage to get their data entered accurately. It becomes a grueling task–hours spent searching for receipts and trying to decipher poorly documented expense reports–that they stop after the data entry stage and never get around to generating reports. Don’t let this happen to you. Generating reports is key to managing your business’s finances and making strategic decisions.

Financial reports summarize the data in your bookkeeping system to show you different aspects of your business’s financial situation. For example, a profit and loss report compares monthly income to monthly expenses to show whether your business is selling enough products or services to cover costs each month. A cash-flow projection shows similar information, but includes other sources of income such as capital contributions from owners or loans (that is, not just revenue from sales). It also organizes the information slightly differently to show you whether the timing of your income is adequate to pay your bills on time.

The Payoff
By generating reports, you’ll be able to see trends and patterns in your business’s finances and identify profitable opportunities to pursue. You’ll also avoid letting your business simply drift along–or worse, run it into the ground. Here are a just few ways that analyzing your financial reports will help your business:

  • You’ll be able to price goods and services more competitively, pace growth more effectively and trim costs strategically–for example, you might cut back on travel expenses or outsourced services that aren’t helping to generate sufficient income.
  • You may be able to reduce taxes by timing your purchases strategically and claiming all your deductible expenses–things that often escape businesses with disorganized records.
  • You’ll be able to manage your business’s cash flow, ensuring you can pay important bills on time. Cash-flow management is a critical element in every business. When it’s done poorly or not at all, you may find yourself short of cash when it’s time to pay taxes, payroll or other crucial expenses. This is exactly the type of scenario that forces businesses to close up shop for good.

Finally, if you’re itching to launch your venture and still worried that you have too much to learn in a short time, stop fretting. You don’t need to turn into a financial whiz overnight. In practice, I advise every small-business owner to consult at least once or twice during their startup days with an experienced bookkeeper or accountant (or possibly both) to help the business get started on the right foot. For those of you who feel like total novices when it comes to the money stuff, consulting a professional will help you get over the hump of your financial learning curve. There are also lots of useful organizations such as The Association of Women’s Business Centers and SCORE that can help get you up to speed.


Peri Pakroo is a business and communications consultant, specializing in legal and startup issues for businesses and nonprofits. She is the author of The Women’s Small Business Start-Up Kit.


The 12 Best Sources of Business Financing

The 12 Best Sources of Business Financing

Precious capital remains hard to find for small businesses. Here are the most likely sources, from least attractive to most.

By Dileep Rao Ph.D.

From Forbes.com

Where and how you finance an operation can be the difference between dominance and failure. All money may sound like good money in this environment. It isn’t.

Often it makes the most sense to tap a few different sources of capital. One deal I arranged involved seven funding sources. That sounds like a hassle, but it ended up greatly reducing the company’s cost of capital and saving it from bankruptcy.

There are myriad financing sources available for American entrepreneurs (seeHandbook of Business Finance atwww.uentrepreneurs.com). Here are the 12 best, from least attractive to most. Two glaring omissions: venture capital–VCs fund just 3,500 of the 22 million small outfits in the U.S., and they only tend to hunt for companies with the potential for torrential growth–and a founder’s own savings. If you don’t know by now that financiers want to see some of your own skin in the game, you may already be in over your head.

12. Angelequity. If you must sell an ownership stake to get your company off the ground, start by finding a respected industry executive who is willing to invest a reasonable amount and give your venture credibility with other investors. The advice and networking–without all the heavy-handed demands of a VC–come in handy, too.

11. Smart leases. Leasing fixed assets conserves cash for working capital (to cover inventory), which is generally tougher to finance, especially for an unproven business. Warning: Don’t put so much money down that you end up spending the same amount of cash as you would have had you bought the asset with a down payment. The cost of a lease may be slightly higher than bank financing (see source No. 10), but the cost of the down payment you did not have to make is likely to be less painful than the dilution you suffer from giving away equity.

10. Bank loans. Banks are like the supermarket of debt financing. They provide short-, mid- or long-term financing, and they finance all asset needs, including working capital, equipment and real estate. This assumes, of course, that you can generate enough cash flow to cover the interest payments (which are tax deductible) and return the principal.

Banks want assurance of repayment by requiring personal guarantees and even a secured interest (such as a mortgage) on personal assets. Unlike other financing relationships, banks offer some flexibility: You can pay off your loan early and terminate the agreement. VCs and other institutional investors may not be so amenable.

9. SBA 7(a) loans. Of all the federally sponsored debt-financing programs, this is the most popular, and perhaps the best. It loosens the flow of credit by guaranteeing the lender against a portion of any loss incurred on the loan. Not to say that banks aren’t careful when making 7(a) loans: They are required to keep the non-guaranteed portion on their books.

The interest rate can vary based on the size of the loan, with smaller amounts costing a little more. Shop around. Some banks reap servicing fees and nice profits by selling the guaranteed portion of the loan to insurance companies and pension funds; in those cases, a lender may be willing to offer you a better rate.

8. Local and state economic development organizations.Economic-development organizations can charge tantalizingly low interest rates when lending alongside a bank.

Say you need to raise $200,000 for a building. A bank may offer $150,000 on a first mortgage at a variable interest rate of prime, now 3.25%, plus 200 basis points, for a total of 5.25%. The local development entity might lend you another $30,000 on a second mortgage at a fixed-interest rate of 4%, without seeking equity shares or warrants. (Without the development corporation’s contributions, you would have to scare up $50,000 in equity–expensive.) If you don’t have the cash flow to cover the interest, the development organization may offer extended terms. Some loans are interest-only for the first year or two, and even the interest payments can be accrued for a certain time period.

Development groups may not agree to finance an entire operation, but they make snagging the remainder from other private sources a lot easier. Talk to your local chamber of commerce to find these programs. (Also checkwww.infinancing.com for a list of the types of development finance organizations).

7. Customers. Advance payments from customers–assuming the terms aren’t too onerous–can give you the cash you need, at a relatively low cost, to keep your business growing. Advances also demonstrate a level of commitment by that customer to your operation. About half of the world-beating entrepreneurs in my book, Bootstrap to Billions (seewww.dileeprao.com), were funded by their customers. This strategy allowed them to grow faster and with limited resources, and to operate with relative impunity with respect to their investors.

6. Vendors: Dick Schulze built Best BuyBBYnews – people ) with financing from large consumer electronics firms–in other words, his suppliers. This way, your financiers do not control your growth; you do. Just be sure not to enslave yourself to a handful of powerful suppliers in the process.

5. Friends and family members. If you’re lucky, friends and family members might be the most lenient investors of the bunch. They don’t tend to make you pledge your house, and they might even agree to sell their interest in your company back to you for a nominal return.

4. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. Getting past the paper-intensive application process and SBIR grants can be a great way to turn your intellectual property into mailbox money. For more on these grants, check out How To Get Uncle Sam To Fund Your Start-Up.

3. Tax Increment Financing. TIF subsidies are geared toward real estate development in targeted areas. Depending on the state, the subsidies can be as large as 20% to 30% of the cost of the project. Better yet, you may even be able to borrow against this subsidized value. If your own community does not offer a TIF program, look at communities that do. You may end up a little farther from your home or office, but it could be worth your while.

2. Internal Revenue Service. No, the IRS does not lend money. But it does allow you to deduct expenses. If you are paying a heap in taxes, evaluate whether you can use your profits to expand your business–and reduce your tax bill.

1. Bootstrapping: Many billion-dollar entrepreneurs find a way to grow without external financing so that financiers don’t control their destinies or grab a disproportionate slice of the wealth pie. For more on the sound strategic thinking you’ll need in order to live on your own cash flow, check out The 20 Most Important Questions In Business.

Dileep Rao has financed over 450 businesses. He is the author of Bootstrap to Billions: Proven Rules from Entrepreneurs who Built Great Companies from Scratch andFinance Any Business Intelligently. For more information, please go to www.uEntrepreneurs.com.

4 Tips for Raising Funds in a Harsh Environment

4 Tips for Raising Funds in a Harsh Environment

Lessons from an entrepreneur who raised $6.25 million in venture capital funding

By Zephrin Lasker

From Entrepreneur Magazine Online

While capital markets continue their well-documented convulsions, that doesn’t mean that dedicated entrepreneurs must shelve their startup dreams next to the past few years IPO filings.

With the following four elements in place, you can get venture capitalists to take notice of your business and raise that all important first round, even in the midst of an economic contraction.

1. Pick your Market
In his highly useful blog, Marc Andreessen identifies the market as being the most important factor driving the success of a startup–market defined as the number and growth rate of potential users for your product or service. If there exists a strong demand from your target market, even a simply adequate product can succeed, as the “market pulls the product out of the start up,” as Andreessen says.

The reverse is seldom true. Even great products often don’t succeed in tough markets, and very rarely do they create new markets (there are examples of this happening, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule). So pick not only your battles, but also pick your battlefield.

To speak from our experience at Pontiflex, making the case that there existed a strong market demand for our product was relatively easy. The evolution of the $24 billion online advertising market can be viewed as a quest for greater returns and higher ROI. The last recession saw the growth of CPC pricing models at the expense of CPM advertising, witness the rise of Google Adwords. Thus it was logical to make the case that the current downturn will see the advertising industry going up the next step of the ROI ladder–from CPC pricing to CPL. In short: why pay for clicks or impressions when you can pay for leads from interested potential customers?

2. Show Momentum
Unless you’ve invented a way to turn lead into gold, these days you must show paying customers or enthusiastic users to prove your value to potential investors.

There are several indicators you can point to in order to demonstrate that your business has real market traction:

  • New customers/beta testers (do the dogs eat the dog food?)
  • Short sales cycles (are customers eager to sign on the dotted line?)
  • Renewal rates (once customers use the product/service, do they come back for more?)
  • Press coverage (do you have positive write-ups in the press?)
  • Testimonials (are your customers willing to testify just how your product solves their problems)

3. Believe in your team
It has become cliché to emphasize the importance of people as being crucial to the success of an endeavor. But in a startup, the importance of having a good team is not nice to have–it’s a necessity.

Hire people you can trust to do the right thing by your company–as if it were their own, after all it is! Unlike a large organization, there is no room for slackers or primadonnas at a startup. Make sure you hire people who can envision a broad strategy, and back themselves to execute against it.

At all times, be wary of “experts.” Experts can tell you how to do something that’s been done before, and do it really well. For sure, this is important in certain situations. But never forget that the whole point of a startup is to develop new solutions to existing problems.

4. Find Validation from Naysayers
It is often said that nothing worth doing is ever easy. When you embark upon the roller coaster that is starting a new company, you will find many naysayers who will tell you that it can’t be done. This is actually a good sign–what they really mean is that they don’t know how to do it, and therefore believe that you won’t be able to do it either. Remember, if they did know how to do it, you’d already be too late.

The path of an entrepreneur is more often than not, a lonely one. Few people will be able to see through your eyes. So have a long-term vision that you can clearly explain and around which you can rally your team, and keep you focused during the challenges that inevitably arise.

Back your vision with a firm belief in innovation. Steve Jobs once said that innovation is the single biggest difference between a leader and a follower. As you innovate and your vision takes root in the market, you will often hear cries of denial bordering on protest–which is the most common reaction of a market segment that has been disrupted.

Stick to your vision and believe in your team and you may one day realize your dream just as the IPO market is starting to reopen and companies are once again beginning to un-shelve their own big market hopes.

Zephrin Lasker is CEO of lead-generation marketplace Pontiflex, which raised a $6.25 million venture capital funding round in April.

Is Your Money Mind-set Tanking Your Biz?

Is Your Money Mind-set Tanking Your Biz?

Don’t let fear and desperation make your financial decisions for you.

By Marc Pearlman

From Entrepreneur.com

The latest statistics from the Small Business Administration show that new businesses have a 50 percent chance of surviving five years or more. While this dispels some longstanding beliefs that 95 percent of businesses fail within five years, the odds of success are still a coin toss.

Common factors contributing to business failures include insufficient capital, poor management and lack of planning, just to name a few. However, a stealth enemy can also doom business success. This enemy resides in our own psyche–our money beliefs.

Our beliefs about money spring from our deeper beliefs. Our self-image, perception of value and experiences all influence our money beliefs. Gaining insight into one’s money beliefs can offer some clarity into one’s way of thinking.

Unhealthy money beliefs can destroy a successful business. Some of the warning signs of an unhealthy money mind-set might be excessive discounting, a strong need to be all things to all people and operating in a constant state of fear. Here are some sample behaviors that might indicate an unhealthy money mind-set.

The Fear Money Mind-set
Fear in and of itself is not a bad emotion to posses. The ability to feel fear is innate in all of us and serves a valuable purpose. Fear warns of danger–real or perceived–heightens our awareness, and triggers our fight-or-flight responses. Fear is an important asset when confronting a lion in the wild, but perhaps an inappropriate emotion when giving a sales proposal.

When people operate out of the fear, they are coming from a perception of weakness and scarcity. This mind-set manifests itself in a variety of behaviors. Salespeople, for example, may give away the farm for fear they will lose a deal to a competitor. What you really do when you’re too quick to dramatically lower a price is devalue your product or service. People are sometimes persuaded by their own perceptions, and the resulting fear can betray their own financial interests.

The Desperate Money Mind-set
The desperate money mind-set is a close cousin of the fear money mind-set. When we operate out of the desperate money mind-set, we are operating at a disadvantage. A person with this mind-set might try to be all things to all people. While going the extra mile in business or customer service is a wise idea, going too far to either obtain or maintain business has a detrimental effect. When we appear needy or desperate to a customer, our credibility is injured. When we operate out of this money mind-set, customers can sense the desperation, and it evokes the question “Why does this person need my business so badly?” The result is likely to be client or customer trepidation, thus perpetuating an individual’s heightened sense of desperation.

The Gambling Money Mind-set
The gambling money mind-set is self defeating; it can take a business down faster than a sea of icebergs can cripple the Titanic. The gambling money mind-set can stem from many places but can commonly be traced back to someone’s need for action. I have witnessed many once-successful stockand commodity traders blow themselves up purely because they needed action. I once knew of a successful business owner who consistently wanted to take wild risks on speculative ventures unrelated to his core business as a way to bring excitement into his life. He ultimately over-leveraged himself on some rental properties and finally destroyed his business.

Keys to Success
One of the keys to understanding our limiting money mind-sets is to uncover deeply rooted beliefs and question their validity.

Here is a simple exercise to help uncover and combat some of your unhealthy money beliefs.

The key to success is identifying some of our closely held beliefs. A very good technique for doing this is to ask yourself what your beliefs about money are and give yourself one minute to write down every answer that pops into your.

Your answers may surprise you. I have seen people fill up sheets of paper with all kinds of conflicting and unhealthy beliefs. Here is an example of what one person had on their piece of paper after completing this exercise.

  1. “I believe people with a lot of money are greedy.”
  2. “I believe people with a lot of money are successful.”
  3. “I believe people with a lot of money are arrogant.”
  4. “I believe people with a lot of money are formally educated.”

There was a host of other conflicting beliefs this person uncovered, but these were some of the stark conflicts. If you hold the belief that formally educated people have a lot of money and you yourself are not formally educated, do you see how it might be difficult to have a lot of money?

Entrepreneurs who look at the viability of a business’s potential to make money without first understanding their own money beliefs are potentially setting themselves up for failure. Since money is the fuel that drives every business, people’s money beliefs, for better or worse, are going to reveal themselves within every business structure.

A lot of businesses fail for a variety of reasons, but you can enhance your probability of success by developing positive money beliefs.

Marc Pearlman specializes in behavioral finance and is the author of the Positive Money Mindset and host of the popular radio show Your Money Matters! For more about Marc please visit marc.pearlman.com. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Marc Pearlman, Representative. Your Money Matters! radio show is not affiliated with the Securities America companies.

Feature: Banking advice for college students

Bankers can be Choosers: What college students need to know about choosing a bank

By Kate Foley

Money can be quite an intimidating prospect when a college student first fledges from the safety of mom and dad’s wallet. Food, gas and credit card bills must now come before the late-night pizza deliveries and weekend parties. It’s time to look for a helpful and trustworthy bank to hold onto your funds, because nowadays you need more than that ceramic piggy bank for your stash. If you’re not sure where to start, just follow this guide to finding the perfect bank for you.
1. Do some research. Don’t worry; this kind of research won’t be nearly as strenuous as your class homework. Instead of automatically choosing the same bank your parents use, get on the phone and contact various other banks. Their customer service representatives are literally there to help you.
2. Compare banks’ services, fees and rewards. Don’t let the words “free gift” distract you; make sure to look into hidden fees that may accompany checking and savings accounts. Many banks do offer specific student checking options with no monthly fees and free use of their ATMs, but never jump into signing with a bank without looking at others as well.
3. Find out everything banks have to offer. There are plenty of perks when joining a bank. In addition to checking and savings accounts, most banks also offer credit cards, certificates of deposit (CDs), loans and even first-home mortgages tailored to college students’ needs. Edina Hadzic, U.S. Bank teller, recommends investment options for the stock market-savvy students; extra funds can be stored in an investment where it can add interest. Unlike a savings account, however, the interest you get depends on how much your stocks gain. Don’t let all this information freak you out: each bank has counselors to help you manage your investments.
4. Get plenty of information about debit cards. Nowadays, a debit card is almost essential to hassle-free transactions. A debit card can be used much like a credit card at almost any retailer, but it withdraws money straight from your checking account instead of sending you a bill. Debit also makes deposits and withdrawals easier by providing access to ATMs.
5. Consider opening your first credit card account. The almighty credit card: it’s truly not as scary as it seems. U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America (just to name a few) all provide student credit cards, perfect for establishing credit. These cards have no annual fees, and can be linked to a checking account to provide overdraft protection (in case you draw too much from your checking account, the remainder will be charged to your credit card to avoid fees).  Just be sure to pay your bills on time; first-time credit cards usually have high percent APR (meaning you will pay more for paying late). “Overdraft protection is an essential benefit of using a credit card,” Nancy Cutler, personal banker for Bank of America, said. “It helps [students] avoid the $25-35 fee that is charged every time they overly withdraw from their checking. A low-limit card is also a smart idea.”
6. Learn about the benefits of online banking. Most banks offer free online banking as part of their accounts. These options allow to pay your bills, check your account balance and transaction history, transfer funds from one account to another, and more. It is a great way to manage your money without using snail mail, because no college student wants to waste their precious cash on postage stamps.
7. Find a bank with locations both near school and home. Many larger bank corporations have thousands of locations across the US, so finding one in both Des Moines and back home shouldn’t be hard. Avoid using small, regional banks if you don’t live in the Midwest, and steer clear of credit unions if you live outside of the Des Moines area, as these are usually local establishments.
Following these few guidelines can save you hours of agony when choosing a bank. If you’re still lost, make some phone calls. Bankers are always happy to inform you about their products and services. Trust your judgment; after all, you know what’s best for your cash, so make sure your bank does too.
Glossary terms:
• APR (Annual Percentage Rate) – the amount of interest due to a credit card based on how much is spent; for example: $10 at 10% APR = $1 added to your bill. APR is only effective after the grace period for repayment has passed (usually 25 days).
• CD (Certificate of Deposit) – A note saying your bank has received your deposit. Deposits earn a certain amount of interest (the longer you keep it in, the higher the interest rate) and can only be withdrawn all at once; for example: a six-month deposit can only be withdrawn after the six months are up.
• Investments – stock bought in a business, used to earn interest based on the business’ profitability.
• Mortgage – Allowing the bank to claim partial ownership of your house until you fully repay a loan you’ve taken out.
• Overdraft – withdrawing more money from an account than actually exists.

How to become a Millionaire using the same old System.

Photo by Flickr
Photo by Flickr

It has never before been easier than now to achieve Millionaire status.  Opportunities abound yet the characteristics of a millionaire still stand solid.  Those characteristics are always found in a system.  Millionaires usually all have one thing in common.  They have mastered a money system of MSI or otherwise known as Multiple Streams of Income.  Five characteristics are:

1.   One very well known way to make money is real estate investing.  Real estate can be purchased with no money down.  Zero CASH or no money down.  Robert Allen’s book No Money Down, he gives dozens of ways to buy real estate without any money down.

2.  Lower you risk.  Use leverage and learn to use LLC’s and other legal entities to lower your liability.

3.  Invest little to no time in the product or service once you get it up and going.  Your goal is to create a system so that it runs itself.  You will need time to start your next MSI.

4. Outsource and delegate your work effort.  You cannot become truly wealthy by thinking you can do things  like manage  all by yourself.  It is way too time consuming.

5. Invest your energy wisely.  Energy well invested will pay you back ten-fold.

All five of these characteristics had ONE thing in common.

They all required ZERO  from you once implemented.

  • Zero CASH
  • Zero RISK
  • Zero TIME
  • Zero Management
  • Zero Energy