credit-card-merchant-account-services

Credit Card Merchant Account Services

Writen by Shane Penrod

Did you know that credit card merchant account services could possibly multiply your sales receipts within a matter of weeks or months? Of course, other factors will play a role in the overall success of this strategy, but many company owners claim that the simple step of accepting credit card payments increased their income dramatically in a relatively short amount of time. That is why you need to know more about the benefits of credit card merchant services.

Basically, the premise of using credit card merchant account services works like this. You find a trusted lender with experience in merchant accounts. You might even want to check with customers at some of the lending institutions to see if they are satisfied with their merchant account services. You also can find online testimonials, although these may be biased when situated at the Websites of various lenders. You could visit chat rooms devoted to topics like this one that are sure to be discussed among entrepreneurs or start-up business owners. After getting objective feedback on several possible lenders, you can choose the one that seems like the best bet for your company.

It is a simple process to apply for credit card merchant account services. After reducing your possible underwriters to three or four after searching the Internet or checking with colleagues, it then becomes a matter of comparing and contrasting benefits with fees. Some companies are so well known that they can afford to charge more for their merchant account services. Others have recently added this option, so they might reduce, avoid, or omit certain fees in order to get your business. However, you may have to pay these fees after the first year or another type of trial period. Read all the terms carefully so that you understand how the account works, how much it costs, and what the potential glitches might be. Contact the lender with any questions or uncertainties before applying for an account. Then, when approved, you should feel confident that you have made a good investment.

Obtaining credit card merchant account services will let you accept credit card payments from your customers in a variety of ways. If you own or operate a store, for example, they can pay onsite with a credit card processor that you can plug into a wall outlet. But if you deliver goods or services to homes or businesses, you may want to take along a wireless credit card processor. Depending on how your customers like to pay and the level of involvement you want to pursue, you can add a pager and an e-check or debit processor right away or later on, depending on equipment cost and your need.

Being approved for a merchant services account will help you expand the way you do business. Many consumers prefer to pay by credit card, so accepting payments via this method will attract that segment of buyers and increase your volume of sales. Soon your profit margins should increase as well. Start thinking now about adding credit card merchant account services to your business.

risk-aversion-and-incentive-fee

Risk Aversion and Incentive Fee

Writen by Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj

Risk averse means being willing to pay money to avoid playing a risky game, even when the expected value of the game is in your favor.

Let’s find out how risk averse you are. If you are a student, I’m guessing that

serving-the-rural-community-with-affordable-financial-services

Serving the Rural Community with Affordable Financial Services

Writen by Peter Kopitz

In every society, access to financial services for every citizen is a vital part of sustained economic development. More emphasis should be given to the roots of society: the rural sectors and working-class. But most of the time, it is very hard to identify financial institutions that provide these needed services, which could improve the livelihoods and reduce risk. Most commercial financial institutions do not provide the proper services needed to support these sectors, as it is not viable to provide cheap services to these communities. They are also unable to provide their services directly to the target group because of high transaction costs coupled with small transaction size and the higher perceived risk of financing clients without collateral.

Therefore, may countries today use alternative approaches instead. The goal is to bring all people into the country’s financial system so that they will have continuous and permanent access to affordable financial services.

There are several categories of financial providers

1) Formal Financial Institution: Professional entities such as licensed banks. Problems: The small profits that can be earned may not compensate for the significant cost and effort involved in tailoring products and delivery systems, especially low-income people. Nevertheless, banks interested in this niche have successfully created a separate unit within the bank, or established a separate affiliated company before.

2) Informal Providers: Small member-managed entities that are not licensed.

3) Semi-Formal Institutions: NGO, small financial cooperatives, and community-based financial organizations

a) Cooperative Financial Institutions (Cooperative banks, credit unions to small village based cooperative entities)

b) Microfinance Non-Governmental Organizations

c) Community Based Financial Organizations (village savings, loan associations, savings and credit associations, self-help groups)

d) Traditional village-based providers (money lenders, small shops and input suppliers who provide goods on credit, and informal savings and credit groups)

The formal financial institutions approach focuses on building strong, stable financial systems that serve the entire population. This is the preferred approach when there are Labor banks, microfinance institutions, and financial cooperative/ credit union networks that are interested in broadening their outreach to the low-income society. The community-based institutions approach focuses on building strong informal or semi-formal community financial institutions, and then linking them with the formal financial sector.

The Purpose of Microfinance:

Microfinance is the provision of financial services, including savings, credit, insurance and payment services, to low income people. Typically, low-income people, especially those living in rural areas, have been unable to obtain quality services at a reasonable price from the formal financial sector. Microfinance is best supported through financial sector programs, however, in many countries where social funds operate there are no financial sector programs with a strong emphasis on access to finance issues, nor are there many viable microfinance institutions.

The Purpose of Social Funds:

Social funds are demand-driven mechanisms that channel resources to the poor and support subprojects that respond directly to the priority needs of the low-income population. They have been used in a growing number of countries to alleviate the social and economic effects of economic crises, cushion the impact of adjustment programs, generate short-term employment, and finance small-scale investments in poor communities. Access to micro-credit is not sufficient, the poor also need access to savings, insurance and payment services. Several wide-scale studies have been conducted on identifying lessons, best practices, and potential pitfalls; they include Panama, Yemen, and Eritrea.

Example Bosnia and Herzegovin:

The overall aim was to jumpstart the process of establishing a strong microfinance sector so as to help raise incomes, create jobs, and develop the smallest businesses. To provide access to credit to the economically disadvantaged, specifically low-income micro-entrepreneurs who had no access to credit from the commercial banking sector.

Problems in the past:

Government policy is oriented more towards creating employment and improving income in response to a crisis than toward long-term objectives. As such, social fund activities were not geared towards strengthening or reforming the microfinance sector, but rather towards using existing microfinance programs as channels for expanding employment. Further problems range from governments and donors using these organizations to channel cheap credit to rural populations to mismanagement of funds.

The Purpose of Credit Unions:

A credit union is a community based financial institution with representation from all socioeconomic levels. Main purposes are the economic, social, and political promotion of democracy and securing of financial stability, and to provide competitive and quality financial services responsive to the needs of its members to improve their livelihood. All credit unions operate within a common bond, such as employment- all members must work for the same group of employers or industry or in the same occupation. Credit unions are for service rather than for profits.

What is the right approach?

Consulting with communities to identify the demand for and supply of financial services among the working-class and rural areas to be covered. What financial services are provided, by whom, and how? What are the gaps in coverage, in terms of types of customers served, types of services provided, and geographical reach? Consider ownership structure, governance and management structure, financial products, customer base, ability to cover costs and existing relationships with professional financial services intermediaries

managing-your-finances-pays-off

Managing Your Finances Pays Off

Writen by Elizabeth Newberry

Almost everyone is in debt at some point in their lives. Being “in debt” doesn’t mean you aren’t properly managing your finances; sometimes being “in debt” simply means you’re currently paying off a loan you used to buy your new house, you’re currently paying off a loan you used to buy your vehicle, or you simply have credit cards that haven’t been completely paid off yet. These kinds of debts are pretty normal and don’t pose any real threat to your credit score unless you fail to pay them back.

On the other hand, many Americans are so far in debt that they can’t make regular payments to their creditors, if they’re able to make payments at all. This kind of deep debt can be caused by a plethora of situations; loss of job, incarceration, and a serious illness or injury of a family member are just a few examples. These kinds of examples also don’t mean people are mismanaging their finances; they just happened to be hit with some bad luck that can harm their credit scores.

At the same time, this kind of deep debt can be caused by the inability to properly manage finances. Sometimes people apply for, and use, more credit cards than they can pay for. Sometimes people spend more money on clothes and entertainment than they do on their bills. Whatever the reason, their finances are mismanaged, and their credit scores, too, are harmed.

Most people know that when their credit scores are poor, they’re going to have a hard time getting loans until they’ve built their credit up again; however, not everyone knows that credit scores also affect insurance policies. People with poor credit scores are viewed as being “high risk” and can have trouble getting an insurance policy, much less an affordable one.

Financially plan ahead for emergencies, and manage your finances in the meantime; your future insurance policies depend on it.

a-balancing-act-how-to-properly-organize-your-checkbook

A Balancing Act: How To Properly Organize Your Checkbook

Writen by Jakob Jelling

With all the things you have to remember to do on a regular basis, balancing your checkbook doesn’t always receive priority. But if you plan ahead and schedule some time for this important task, you will reap the financial rewards.

Before you begin make sure you have the following items on hand: checkbook, ledger book, ATM and deposit receipts, calculator and a pencil. The next step is to check your items. First, separate your returned checks and ATM withdrawal slips into two distinct piles. Then place your returned checks in numerical order and compare them to your ledger book by writing an “X” in the ledger beside every figure that matches a cancelled check.

The next step is to put your ATM withdrawal slips in chronological order (that is, according to date) and compare them to your ledger book by placing an “X” beside every figure that matches an ATM withdrawal amount. You can make final changes to your ledger by comparing your deposit receipts with your bank statement. Write an “X” by every figure in the ledger that matches with a deposit receipt. If you notice any discrepancies after carrying out this relatively simple procedure, you must notify your bank immediately in order to rectify the situation.

To calculate your balance, record you checkbook’s current balance either at the top of a piece of paper, or on the back of your statement. It is recommended you use the back of your statement if your bank provides a worksheet there for calculating your balance. Now, subtract amounts for uncleared deposits and bank fees, including monthly fees and those for bounced checks, and subtract from your calculated total. Then add any uncleared checks and interest you have earned to this new figure. Finally, compare the final figure to your bank statement.

If you discover at this point in time that your bank has unfairly charged you for something, get in contact with them as soon as possible. Also, if you notice any discrepancies the first time around, or can’t reconcile your final balance to the bank statement, you might want to double and triple-check your calculations.

start-up-business-finance

Start Up Business Finance

Writen by Kristy Annely

For executing a project, implementing a scheme, or for undertaking an operation, there is a general need for finances to start and endeavor and to further develop it. Finances are the roots of every business activity. Every business decision, whether it relates to production, personnel or marketing, will have a financial implication. The final criterion for the selection of any alternative course is its financial viability.

The study of all the monetary operations of a business is generally termed business finance. Every business requires financing to carry out its activities. The business needs funds for acquiring assets, purchasing raw materials or merchandise, paying the workers, the suppliers and for meeting various other obligations. This requires planning, raising, controlling and administering of funds. All these activities can be termed start up business finance.

In simple terms, business finance refers to the management of money and monetary claims within an individual business firm. Corporations, the commonly used word for joint stock companies, are the major form of business organizations. The financial operations are more complex and require more attention.

A business concern makes use of many resources like men, money, machine, materials, methods, markets, etc. Exercising proper management of resources used is necessary to attain the objective of getting maximum benefit. So management of money or finance is imperative. Besides, the resources, money or finance is the most important, since it influences all other resources. So management of finances assumes as much significance as does an enterprise.

All information related to economic, commercial and industrial activities are termed financial information. It includes information at both micro and macro levels like population, employment, inflation, money supply, foreign trade, stock market details and performance of individual business units.

time-out

Time Out

Writen by A. Raymond Randall, Jr.

The Patriots earned their money when settling the Super Bowl challenge thanks to Adam Vinatieri’s kick through the goal posts. Just before that kick, the Carolina Panthers called time-out to unnerve Vinatieri and Kinchen, the stand in center. On Thursday, January 29, 2004, Greenspan and company suggested they might kick up short-term interest rates. Hinting a time out for interest rates unnerved investors.

Interest rate moves have subtle effects on income for many. Our family benefits from the presence of our children’s great grandmother, who begins her 91st year, likes football (”Oh, that poor Drew Bledsoe.”), but dislikes current interest rates. Clearly, her perspective includes long-term opinions on history, mores, and the economy. That “Jimmy Carter was the best President. CD’s (cerfificates of deposit) were 14% and 16% back then. Now they’re 1% and 2%…”, and then a few words about those Republicans. I try explaining the inflation quotient, but Nana just shakes her head and walks away. I just wanted to say, “Like it or not, low interest rates benefit an economy; high interest rates undermine economic growth”.

Since 1790, the long-term (30 year interest rate) has averaged about 5% with eight years when it exceeded 11% (a number of those years when Jimmy Carter served as President; please don’t tell Nana.). The current Fed Funds rate sits at 1%, a forty year low. Now, the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed.) quietly implies that interest rates may creep up.

“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said” - Alan Greenspan (Speech to the Economic Club of New York, 1988)

This news pounded Wall Street stock and bond traders harder than the Patriot’s defensive line. Each index declined more than 1.3% , the 10-year Treasury note shot up sharply to 4.20%, and the dollar moved up against the Euro. What made this news unsettling? Back in August (2003), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said, “The committee believes that policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period”. Six months later, the FOMC chooses to be “patient” about interest rate moves.

Most economists believe the Fed will not adjust rates upward until 2005 (of course most sports analysts did not believe the Partriots would win the Super Bowl).

These factors seem to effect future Fed action:

Employment data showing strong job growth

Job Growth means an improving economy

Improving economy means inflationary pressures

Inflation prompts Fed action

Stock Market “exuberance” provokes Fed action

Mortgage rates and Treasury rates may linger around current rates due to this Fed hike suggestion

What does it mean? Well, it’s like watching Adam Vinatieri preparing a field goal kick with a tie game and 9 seconds left on the clock. NO, it’s not that tense! Interest rate moves acknowledge the Feds role when managing the economy, and consensus views acknowledge that current rates have found their forty year lows. Essentially, exuberance within the housing markets and the equity markets will find “patience” more healthy than “irrational exuberance” as the Fed warns.

“The Fact that our economical models at The Fed, the best in the world, have been wrong for fourteen straight quarters, does not mean they will not be right in the fifteenth quarter” - Alan Greenspan

Stay tuned, and be patient. A “time out” serves good economic purpose.

asset-protection-strategies

Asset Protection Strategies

Writen by Peter Emerson

The best way to protect your assets and earnings is to follow the best asset protection strategies. These act as the walls between your assets and overzealous government officials and creditors. It is too late if you act to protect your assets after a claim or suit is filed. Therefore, it is better to consider a well-structured asset protection strategy in advance. Good strategy results in sufficient tax reductions that ultimately increase your savings. Asset protection strategies should be made when your business is small and growing.

Transferring the family nest egg to a trust, offshore or domestic, is the most sophisticated strategy to follow. It is easy and convenient to maintain. In this case, the beneficiaries would be the client and family members. A family limited partnership is also an asset protection strategy. In this strategy, all management and control of the assets remain with the client.

There should be a careful review of all the necessary programs included in the strategies like contract procedures, hire procedures, employment contracts, etc. It is important to remember that any common asset protection strategy cannot apply to each individual and family as the assets, goals and opportunities of each are different. Asset protection strategies vary depending on your situation, i.e. your country of resident and citizenship, your age, annual net income, and so on. Political and economic stability of the offshore jurisdiction should be satisfactory before making a decision. Transport and communications are another aspect to consider in offshore asset protection strategy.

Asset protection strategies should be effective and legal to make your assets safe and secure. For financial planners, business owners and high-income individuals protection of assets has become a prominent issue. These people consult and hire top lawyers to get popular and established strategies to follow. Hire any good competent attorney who is willing to develop a practical asset protection strategy.

the-history-of-interest-throughout-time

The History Of Interest Throughout Time

Writen by Luigi Frascati

Although I am sure that someone at the State Department will argue otherwise, Cyrus The Great (590 - 529 BC), founder of the Persian Empire, was no terrorist. Quite far from it. Although one might not have wanted him as next-door neighbor, Cyrus II of Persia was very illuminated for his times, according to the Greek historian Herodotus. Cyrus, in fact, beheaded only those who would not bend under his rule. But all others were spared. Such was the case with Croesus of Lydia, whose life was spared by Cyrus after the battle of Pterium, and that of Nabodinus after the battle of Opis and the siege of Babylon. However Cyrus, like all military geniuses, had his … shall we say … pet-peeves: if he ever caught anyone charging interest on loans, he would order him tied at the stake, would personally pull out his Zippo and … woosh, set him ablaze right there and then.

In this day and age of mortgage and lending interest rates as well as returns on investment and yields, it is interesting to look at how the very concept of interest - both active and passive interest - has developed throughout the centuries to the point of where we acknowledge and understand it today. Looking back at how things were once seen is always gratifying, to the extent that it provides us with a measure of how times have changed.

The ‘phenomenon on interest’ as it was once called first became the object of question only in the form of loan interest for a full two thousand years. What especially caught the attention - and the ires - of our ancestors was the fact that loan interest has its source not in labor but, as it were, in some bounteous mother-wealth. In societies of the past where work and productivity stood at the very essence of existence, making a profit by - quite literally - not producing anything for the common good must have looked almost sacrilegious. The acquisition of wealth without labor, moreover, ran diametrically opposite to many early religious tenets, both Pagan as well as Christian.

The history of the interest phenomenon, therefore, begins with a very long period in which loan interest, or usury, alone is the subject of investigation. This period begins deep in ancient times and reaches down to the Eighteenth century. It is occupied with the contention of two opposing doctrines: the elder of the two is hostile to interest, while the later defends it. In the early stages of economic development there regularly appears a lively dislike to the taking of interest. Credit has still little place in production. Almost all loans are loans for consumption and are, as a rule, loans to people in distress. The creditor is usually rich, the debtor poor; and the former appears in the hateful light of a man who squeezes something from the little of the poor in the shape of interest to add to his own superfluous wealth.

It is no wonder, therefore, that both the Ancient World and the Christian Middle Ages were exceedingly unfavorable to usury. The Ancient World, in spite of some few economical flights, had never developed very much of a credit system and the Middle Ages, after the decay of the Roman culture, found themselves - in industry as in so many other things - thrown back to the circumstances of primitive times. As a result, in both eras several laws were enacted forbidding the taking of interest, or the paying of it.

Perhaps the Greek philosopher and thinker Aristotle in his book “Politics” is the most vociferous opponent of interest. Here is what he wrote : “Of the two sorts of money-making one, as I have just said, is a part of household management, the other is retail trade: the former necessary and honorable, the latter a kind of exchange which is justly censured; for it is unnatural, and a mode by which men gain from one another. The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural use of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term usury, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money, because the off-spring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of making money this is the most unnatural“. Quite a statement! One may want to bring this up to the attention of his banker when applying for a loan the next time around.

Aristotle’s thinking may be summed up this way: money is by nature incapable of bearing fruit. As such, the lender’s gain cannot come from the peculiar power of money. And, consequently, it can only come from a defrauding of the borrower. Interest is therefore a gain got by abuse and injustice (another point that can be discussed with a banker).

Things began to change somewhat under the Roman Empire, when economic exchange and trading of goods reached such complexity that gratuitous credit began not to make sense any longer. And yet even the Romans - perhaps in line with the theological credo of the time - put severe legal constraints to the amount of interest that could be charged. And to canonize these limits (which varied on a case-by-case basis), they were the first to publish a list of interest rates. This list grew more and more complicated with time, since the Senate thought that interest rates should be less for friendly countries and more for the unfriendly, thereby instating the first international economic agreements among countries of the Mediterranean Basin (though these economic ‘agreements’ where unilateral, i.e. imposed by Rome on to everyone else).

Things began progressively worse, however, following the break up of the Roman Empire and the advent of Christianity. In fact in the sacred writings of the New Testament were found certain passages which, as usually interpreted, seemed to contain a direct divine prohibition of the taking of interest. This was particularly true of the famous passage in Luke: “Lend, hoping for nothing in return” (third point one should point out to a banker). The powerful support which the spirit of the time, already hostile to interest, thus found in the express utterance of divine authority, gave it the power once more to draw legislation to its side. The Christian Church lent its arm. Step by step it managed to introduce the prohibition into legislation. First the taking of interest was forbidden by the Church, and allowed to the clergy only. Then it was forbidden to everyone, but still the prohibition only came from the Church. At last even the temporal legislation succumbed to the Church’s influence and gave its severe statutes the sanction of Roman Law.

The status quo remained cast into stone for the following fifteen centuries, until the advent of Mercantilism and of the Industrial Revolution. Here the monarchies of the time, most notably the Crown of England, decided to back private entrepreneurs with their own money. They chose to do so to gain a political and strategic edge over other monarchies and other states. And so as to encourage their own citizens not only to manually work, but also to think, they cheerfully invested large sums in the development of their inventions - some archaic but others of very practical application. In doing so, however, the monarchies wanted to reap also an economic profit and thus the modern concept of interest - both simple and compounded - was finally born.

Luigi Frascati

financial-freedom-for-lawyers

Financial Freedom for Lawyers

Writen by Stefanus Wahyudi

While it is true that the practice of law is more lucrative than many professions, a law degree in itself is not a guarantee of financial freedom. The same rules that apply to lower paid employees apply to lawyers as well. No matter what your salary, it is important to live within your means, save and invest wisely and eliminate as much debt as possible.

Having a good solid nest egg of savings and investments is a vital part of your financial freedom strategy as a lawyer. Investments, whether they be stocks, bonds or tangible assets like real estate, are an excellent way to generate dependable, consistent passive income. Generating passive income means that your money is working for you as hard as you are working for your money. You will be amazed at the power of passive income and the difference it can make in your life.

If you find yourself working for a traditional law firm, there are strategies you can use as an employee to build your financial freedom. Be sure to take advantage of savings, investment and retirement programs offered by your firm. You may be surprised at the level of passive income generated by even a small 401(k) retirement plan for instance.

Eliminating debt is another important step on the road to financial freedom. Law school is not cheap, and most lawyers graduate with a hefty amount of student loans to repay. The quicker you are able to retire this debt, the further ahead you will be on the road to financial freedom. Once you have eliminated your debt, you can begin to focus on investing and creating a passive income stream for your future.

If you work as a lawyer with your own practice, you are essentially a business owner. You will be able to use your talent and skills to generate an excellent income and take charge of your financial future. Owning your own business has been and remains the most important element on the road to financial freedom. Owning your own business puts you in charge of your earnings and your future.

Whether you choose to work for someone else or strike out on your own, you can reach your goal of financial freedom more quickly than you think. There is no magic bullet. Financial freedom is achieved by a combination of hard work, savvy investment, passive income and knowledge.

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