Business and Finance Information

Archive for the ‘Finance’ Category

The “Happy Birthday” song is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of someone’s birth. In 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records proclaimed that very song as the most recognized song in the English language, followed by “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Its roots can be traced back to a song entitled, “Good Morning to All,” which was written and composed by American sisters and kindergarten teachers, Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893.

Throughout the years, many other versions and styles of the “Happy Birthday” song were created. One of the most famous versions of this song was sung by Marilyn Monroe to then U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962. Another famous version of the song was sung by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They shifted the melody to a traditional rock song and increased its complexity and style on their unforgettable double album, “The Beatles” (commonly referred to as the “White Album”) in 1968. Read the rest of this entry »

An Overview of Financial Services Software

Risk management software is an important tool that financial institutions can use to proactively analyze and deal with the financial risks that they face on a day-to-day basis. In other words, the Financial Services Software provides an integrated approach to managing risk, and thus enables the financial industry to define, control, manage, and reduce the financial risks within their business; what is sometimes referred to as collateral management. As such, these institutions are able to estimate any potential loses. The government has set out regulatory requirements that financial institutions are required to implement, with regard to risk management and capital. Read the rest of this entry »

2011 wasn’t a great year for savers. The historically low Bank of England base rate, held at 0.5% since March 2009, has meant that saving account interest rates have come crashing down and meant that many savers may have found themselves losing out in real terms.

There was a time when if you had a lump sum in capital you could put it in any one of a wide range of savings accounts, sit back and watch it grow, but not anymore.

Why does the Bank of England base rate affect my savings?

The Bank of England base rate is the interest rate at which it will lend to financial institutions. This in turn influences the interest rates offered by those financial institutions themselves, to both borrowers and savers alike. Read the rest of this entry »

The limited liability company provides entrepreneurs and business owners with wonderful tax planning options. And, interestingly, a handful of these options can even be considered at nearly the very last minute. Consider, for example, the following tactics and techniques:

Deduct Unreimbursed Partnership Expenses for Multiple Member LLCs

If a limited liability company has multiple members and is treated for tax accounting purposes as a partnership, the LLC may want to develop an “unreimbursed partnership expenses” policy that requires partners to directly pay some of their business expenses. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, made in America products are few and far between. It is estimated that nine out of ten items sold in the United States were made here in the 1960s. Currently, more than half are foreign-made. How does this impact our country?

World News with Diane Sawyer, on ABC Television has been following this issue over the past few months. People are being encouraged to make a commitment to buy made in America products, when possible. It is reported that the Christmas gift spending for an average family is $700.00. It is estimated that if $64.00 of the $700.00 is spent on something made in America, 200,000 jobs will be created. People are being challenged to be “In”. That is, committed to spending the $64.00 on made in America products, instead of foreign-made ones. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been in business for a while you have probably seen and heard from more credit card salespeople than you care to remember and from as many or more than you ever care to hear from again! Why is that?

Because somewhere along your trail of experiences you were probably promised the moon and received far less, because you took someone at their word and were taken advantage of or more likely lied to, cheated and hoodwinked into making a bad choice. You chose the wrong shell. The wrong company. The wrong person to trust with your money!!

I equate it with the old network marketing trick of having been invited over to a good friends home for a party or get together to catch up on lost time. You show up all excited and expecting to enjoy a night out with old friends and you end up sitting through a sales presentation. It used to be known as the “Amway Party.” Read the rest of this entry »

So you have finished your trust deed and now you don’t know where to start to get your life back on track.

I had a Trust Deed that finished in September 2009, such a good feeling to be completely debt free. I realised I would have to start all over again and repair my bad credit rating as I eventually wanted to buy my own house. So after some research I started to repair all the damage I had done to myself financially.

The first thing I needed to do was make sure the correct information was on my credit file. There are 3 main agencies that keep credit records and these are Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. I became a member for each agency online so I could get a look instantly at my report, I got my first month of membership free with each agency, so no cost to me as long as I remembered to phone in a month and cancel! Read the rest of this entry »

How quickly we forget! Most loan officers that I talk to today are all wired up about the current mini “refinance boom” the market is having right now. Most don’t, or don’t want to remember that it was just this summer when they were quoting rates at 4.875 or higher for the same 30 year fixed. It’s funny though we always see the same reversal of trends each and every year. Loan Officers are happy for the most part until February when rates jump up and are high until around may. That is typically the downtime of the year for mortgage loan officers. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I would agree, there is really no such thing as a prepaid debit card with no fees, but there are quite a few prepaid debit cards that come close. Many of these cards are very easy to obtain but some do have plenty of fees associated with there use normally requiring direct deposit and minimum balance to eliminate most or all fees. Here are some of your best options in my opinion:

The Walmart Money Card can be obtained at any participating Walmart or you can apply online. With just a $3.00 monthly fee and very low transaction fees it rates highly as a card that is easy to load at any participating Walmart especially if you live close to Walmart. Reload fees can be waived when you cash an eligible payroll or government check or you can also load your card with a Green Dot MoneyPak. Walmart has been providing discount merchandise to many consumers for years and having a Walmart Money Card could make your shopping experience there that much easier. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps the very first test of potential “riskiness” when using any electronic presentment and payment (or EBPP for short) web site is whether it is secure. The vast majority of web page addresses, also known as URLs, typically begin with “http.” However, to pay bills online, the web page should always start with “https,” which signifies a secure socket layer or SSL connection (or one in which data is fully encrypted). This typically means that you can see a padlock icon, usually in the top or bottom corner of the browser window (or in some cases it may even turn the URL address background green or light blue). Clicking the padlock icon will often reveal the site’s security certificate (and allow you to read about the particular protection that this affords). Read the rest of this entry »