Selling Your Business - A Tool To Reduce Capital Gains Taxes
“I would rather expire at my desk than to sell my business and pay Uncle Sam one dime in taxes.” How many owners that have paid their fair share of taxes for twenty years of building their business feel this way? The tax bite is the single biggest factor in an owner’s reluctance to sell his/her company.
I have previously written articles discussing various aspects of transaction structures to minimize taxes. As a result, I am often contacted by a panicked seller that is a week from closing his business sale as he looks in disbelief at his accountant’s spreadsheet detailing the tax burden of his impending sale.
Recently, the seller of a Sub Chapter S Corporation with an $8 million transaction value contacted me. The tax basis was below $200,000 and $4 million of the transaction value was the assumption of debt. When the dust settled, he was looking at a capital gains tax liability of a staggering $965,000 while only receiving the remainder of proceeds after the assumption of debt. The assumption of debt is considered as part of the capital gain for tax purposes.
The owner sent his accountant’s spreadsheet to me and since I am not a tax accountant, I sent it to my tax wizard at BDO Seidman. He found a few small tweaks, but said that there was not much that could be done from an accounting standpoint for this owner. When I reported this back to the seller I could feel his disappointment and frustration.
So I began my quest for a better solution. After several dozen phone calls to my professional network, I was directed to a little known vehicle called a Private Annuity Trust. This vehicle has passed the scrutiny of the IRS and the Tax Court. It is not a way to avoid the payment of taxes, rather a method of deferring them with substantial economic benefit to the owner’s beneficiaries.
Below is a simplified description of the process. As the owner contemplates the sale of his business (or any highly appreciated asset for that matter) he “sells” it to a trust PRIOR to its ultimate sale. This trust purchases the asset at FMV and exchanges an annuity payment stream complete with IRS life expectancy tables and interest rates. The trust then sells the company to the buyer to fund the annuity.
The transaction is accompanied by a gift to the trust in the amount of 7% of the face value of the annuity. This is so it qualifies as a trust by creating an entity with economic value. Remember, the private annuity is viewed as having zero economic value because the asset minus the obligation theoretically equals zero.
The trust is in the name of the owner’s beneficiaries and all aspects of the trust are controlled by the trustees/beneficiaries and not by the owner. The trust for the benefit of the heirs owns the assets and owns the annuity payment obligation. The trust can be structured to defer the annuity payments for a period of time to coincide with the owner’s need to receive these payments, lets say, for example, ten years During those ten years the trust’s investments or a commercial annuity grow without incurring a tax bite for the business sale.
When the annuity payments start, the owner is taxed at his then current tax rate for the portion of the annuity payment attributable to the capital gains, his basis (no tax), and depreciation recapture from the sale, and the income produced from the annuity. The annuity pays the owner and spouse this annuity payment until last to die or until the annuity investments run out. If the owner and spouse die, any remaining assets are transferred to the beneficiaries outside of estate tax liability.
If your investments perform at the rate used in the annuity calculation and the last to die lives to their exact life expectancy, theoretically the trust value will be whatever the gift portion (7% of the selling price) has grown to. However, if the investments do very well and you outlive the life expectancy tables, you could receive payments well in excess of the original annuity face value. Those excess payments would be taxed at your then current income tax rate.
If the investments do well and the value grows above the required annuity reserve amount, the excess can be distributed to the beneficiaries as income.
In the simplest of views, this acts like an IRA. You are not currently taxed on the amount you put in, it grows tax deferred and you pay taxes upon distribution, hopefully at a far more favorable tax rate. In the case of the frustrated seller from above, what if he deferred all payments by ten years on the full sale price and the $965,000 in capital gain taxes owed? He had a life expectancy of 20 years beyond the start of the distributions. The $965,000 that he did not pay in taxes grows at 7% to $1,939,323 by the time distributions start.
Every annuity payment contains a portion of the capital gain or 1/20th of the total capital gain annually. Therefore, the bulk of the resulting investment value of the capital gains tax deferral provides huge returns for years to come.
If it seems too good to be true, remember it is tax deferral and not tax avoidance. The owner has sold his business first to the trust in return for an annuity payment stream. The owner cannot control the trust. To the extent that the owner wants immediate access to some of the sales proceeds, he would pay all taxes in proportion to the amount he is receiving. In cases like the one above, this tax deferral tool can have a dramatic impact on the financial status of the owner and his heirs by allowing the tax deferred funds to compound for many years before their ultimate distribution and the payment of any tax.
Investment Potential Of Ukraine (Lviv Region Focus) By Business Support Center
Europe’s largest country by area, Ukraine combines the advantages of the longest border with the EU, some of the richest agricultural lands in the world, large and growing domestic market, as well as skilled workforce with labour rates of one tenth of the European average. The location of Lviv oblast on the crossroad of trade routes from Europe to Asia as well as from Scandinavia to South lands provides the access to 100-million consumer markets of Ukraine, Russia and other CIS countries.
Attractiveness of Lviv oblast is ensured by:
- dynamically developing market,
- highly educated and skilled labour force that easily adapts oneself to market requirements (150 thousand students graduate from 62 higher educational establishments located on the territory of Lviv oblast annually),
- significant share of modern industries in the economy of the oblast, increase in the amount of innovation enterprises, wide network of research institutions,
- developed telecommunication infrastructure,
- modern market of financial services,
- low-expense production base and rich recourses,
- International airport “Lviv” as well as transport corridors that run through the oblast’s territory,
- unique charm of Lviv city, which is included in UNESCO World Heritage List, and lots of recreation opportunities,
- ancient traditions of trade with Russia and countries of CIS,
- implementation of a number of international development programs in the oblast.
Priorities of Regional Development
The priority task of the regional state authorities and local self-governments of all levels is to increase investment inflows to Lviv oblast. The Investment Program Welcoming Investors was adopted in the region. The regional Investment Program will provide achievement of the four following goals of the Strategy of Lviv Oblast Development 2015:
1. Lviv oblast is a region of sustainable economic and entrepreneurial development.
2. Lviv oblast is a gateway of Ukraine into the EU.
3. Lviv oblast is a region of highly qualified people, innovation potential and technologically advanced companies.
4. Lviv oblast is a region of clean and attractive natural environment, culture, tourism and recreation.
The investment policy will be based on the well-defined partnership of the state and private sectors and realized taking into account the following principles:
- providing investors with the equal rights and terms for investment activity,
- providing investors with guarantees against non-commercial risks (deterioration of investment terms, caused by the actions of state officials or local regulatory documents),
- matching potential investors’ interests and tasks of strategic economic development of the oblast,
- improving investment infrastructure,
- promoting Lviv oblast on the investment markets.
Preparation for Euro 2012 Final Tournament and creation of the possibilities for the implementation of wide-scale and small investment projects are the primary tasks of the Investment Program.
The information for investors including propositions of land lots, unfinished construction and other investment projects is available at the official Internet Portal of Lviv oblast. www.invest.lviv.ua
Priority Investment Projects
1) Reconstruction of International airport “Lviv”
International airport “Lviv” is an air junction in Western Ukraine that provides air transportation between the city of Lviv and regions of Ukraine as well as the whole world. 100 thousand passengers and approximately 40 tons of high value cargo run through the airport annually. The airport is included in 2nd geographical zone of the world air space. The Austrian company Airport Consulting Vienna worked out the concept of International airport “Lviv” development. Modernization of Lviv airport was also included in the State Program of Preparation for the Final Tournament of Euro 2012 Football Championship. The project cost USD 166.1 million, including investor’s contribution of USD 97.2 million.
2) Construction of a stadium in Lviv
A brand new stadium is planned to be constructed in Lviv within the preparations for Euro 2012. The new stadium will be favourably located 12 km from the city centre, near the hugest residential area within the transport corridor # 5. 25 hectare land plot has been opted for the construction of the stadium, its infrastructure together with car parking. According to the project plan, the stadium will be able to host 40 thousand people and that will allow to play quarter-final games. The project of the stadium was developed by the German company HOCHTIEF. The construction of the stadium and its infrastructure requires USD 290 million investments.
3) Construction and maintenance of Lubelska Mine.
Lviv oblast is rich in coke. The project foresees extraction of coal with the help of highly effective innovative technologies. The coal from Lubelska Mine is eligible for carbonization and belongs to the most valuable sorts of “K” mark. Its reserves are reported to be estimated at 86 million tonnes. After the completion of mine construction there will be partly national deficiency for cock coal reduced. General need for investment is USD 400 million.
State and Dynamics of Investment Processes
The trend of stable investment inflows to the oblast’s economy is observed:
- for the 9 months of 2007 foreign investors invested USD 164.7 million and that is 2.2 times more than for the corresponding period of 2006.
- the total investments in Lviv oblast made up USD 653.2 million. By the volume of investment inflows in Ukraine Lviv oblast belongs to the 10 most attractive investment regions holding 8th position, among the western regions it is ranked as the most attractive investment area.
Currently 61 countries successfully invest in Lviv oblast. The most significant investments come from Poland, Germany, Denmark and Hungary. Foreign investments were attracted in 1206 companies of Lviv oblast. By the number of the companies that received foreign investments, Lviv oblast holds the 2nd place after the capital of Ukraine Kyiv. The largest investment inflows were directed to the basic branches of the oblast’s economy as well as its banking sector.
The following cities and rayons of the oblast were the most active in attracting investments:
- the city of Lviv - USD 425.1 million or 65.2% of the total volume of investments (Laura Ltd. (Italy) - clothing manufacture, Subsidiary Gangso Ukrayina (Denmark) - furniture production, Merkuriy Ukrayina Ltd. (the USA) - transportation services);
- Stryy Rayon - USD 52.3 million or 8.0% of the total volume of investments (Leoni Waering Systems UA GmbH (Germany) - automobile wire systems production, Halychyna Zakhid Ltd. (Germany) - pig farming);
- Yavoriv Rayon - USD 35.9 million or 5.5% of the total volume of investments (Provimi Ltd. (Poland) - production of fodder, Yevroshpon Ltd. (Spain) - wood processing).
The highest rates of investment resources increase are expected in the following areas: production of details for machine-building industry, production of packaging materials and plastic items, agriculture sector, cargo and passenger transportation industry. Significant investments are expected in the development of the construction sector and production of modern construction materials. In 2008 the financial and banking industries will be developing as well.
Get Reviews On Property Investment And Wealth Management
Property investment has always been one of the most common methods of investing capital & can be a lucrative business option and hence many investors consider it an integral part of their diversified portfolio. It is a long term investment for individuals or families to obtain financial security for their present as well as future. However, you should consider some important points while doing property investment. If you are a beginner, you must look for a profitable property investment. The bottom line of property investment is to find an affordable property that can prove to be highly lucrative for the future. As time moves on, for example with newer media options of television and internet, new trends in property investment are appearing. So, always keep yourself informed about upcoming trends in property market with the help of these informative mediums. Prepare your property for resale and then sell the house quickly.
Residential property investment is the investment that can carry low risk and is not like investing in commercial property where investors have to worry about the conditions of businesses. Property investment loans are not as difficult to get as other types of loans and investing in residential properties can give investors a substantial financial boost. Also check out the history of capital growth rate in the area in last at least 15 years. Make sure that property investment is worth the capital benefit. You must also consider the population growth rate of the locality. If you are planning to invest in property, you need to take advice from experts or you can conduct research on the internet, attend seminars, interact with social groups and then read as much as possible regarding this matter to clear up all your investment doubts. Though the whole scenario of investments is always changing, property investment is still a viable means to enhance your financial portfolio. Because, the more you know about market, the better you will become at finding good property investments.
Wealth Management is classified as an advanced type of financial planning that provides High net worth individuals and families with private banking, estate planning, asset management, legal resources, and investment management, with the goal of sustaining and growing long-term wealth. The main objectives of wealth management are providing families dealing with services in retail banking, legal resources, investment management, and taxation advice goals to sustain and grow long-term wealth. Wealth management often includes further diversifying investments by adding real estate, precious metals, business and other untraditional investments.
Products dealt with in wealth management include stock trading and stocks, investments linked with equity, derivatives and products relating to structured investment, foreign exchange, unit trusts and mutual funds, investments and management of property, etc. Alternative investments with respect to wealth management include art, wine, precious metals, etc. Due to its prime importance, it is advisable to take the help of wealth management company while running a big enterprise. Because a wealth management company helps in growing long-term wealth for achieving long-term profit as It analyzes your wealth management plans including investments, insurance plans etc, calculates the related risks and then it proposes a wealth plan. It may provide many services like portfolio management, investment management, portfolio rebalancing, trust and estate management, private management, tax advice and financing solutions etc.
A wealth management company sometimes also implements some useful financial tools like stocks and stock trading, structure savings products, structured investment products and derivatives, equity linked investments, property management and investment solutions, mutual funds and alternate investment options. These tools provide assistance in making your money grow and provide you long-term investment benefits. Thus, proper wealth management with the help of financial planning can make you gain very fruitful returns on your investments which will have increasing volume each time.
Avoiding Capital Gains Tax On Real Estate - Some Important Tips
Real Estate is something that everybody wants, and invests in. One reason is to have your own house, and the other is to take advantage of a possible rise in real estate values. Both are subject to the laws regarding how it will be treated in real estate tax laws. Therefore, it is important to know something, if not everything about what are the tax laws governing real estate taxes. Of course, your tax consultant is the best person to brief you on this. This article skims over the surface of the tax laws. Remember your tax consultant is the right person to advise you.
Capital gains tax is not levied on the sale of your ‘primary’ residence, so long as you have declared it as your ‘primary’ residence. You must have lived in the house you sold for at least two years before you can claim it as your ‘primary residence’.If your profit from the sale is not greater than $ 250,000, if you are a bachelor/spinster, and $ 500,000 if you are married. You pay capital gains tax on the balance of the amount over the limits specified above. To make it clear, let’s say you are a bachelor and you sell your primary residence for $ 260,000. You will have to shell out capital gains tax on $ 10,000, which is exactly the difference between the limit fixed under law. If you are married, then you don’t pay capital gains tax! Why because the limit above which capital gains tax is payable is $ 500,000. If the sale is above that price, you only pay, as shown, on the differential between the limit, and what you sold it for.
One can use the definition of primary residence to still make money on real estate, and not pay the capital gains tax.
You buy a house, and live in it for two years. That qualifies it as a primary residence. Meanwhile you let out your old house (where you stayed before for at least two years), for say two years, and you sell this old house within five years of shifting to your new home, which becomes your primary home in reality and then sell the old house, you would not have to pay the capital gains tax. Let us be clear. You stay in a house for 2 years, it becomes your primary residence. You move into another house,(now your primary residence after two years) and let out this old house for say another 2 years. As long as you sell the old house within 5 years of moving out, there is no capital gains tax to be paid. Read this very carefully.
One more way that provides you exemption from capital gains tax is that the sum for which you sold your real estate should be reinvested by purchasing another piece of real estate. This has to be done within two years of your selling the real estate you had earlier. In other words, the tax authorities want you to reinvest the money you made from real estate into another real estate property within two years of the sale of the real estate. Read this again please carefully.
Please do consult with a tax consultant. This article cannot be construed as a genuine construction of the law relating to real estate tax laws.
What are the different reasons to open a general investing and/or a retirement investing account?
On Vanguard it has a “General Investing” account and a “Retirement Investment” account. Obviously the latter is for IRAs, but what is the advantages and purpose of the general investing?
Understanding Your Current Personal Finance Situation
August 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
It is important: understanding your current personal finance situation is something that every person needs to do. By understanding what is going on with your personal finances you will be able to better control them. This can be one of the best ways to avoid money problems and debt.
Getting started is the hardest part. It can seem almost impossible to figure out where to begin when tackling finance issues. The best place to start is to simply look at expenses and income.
As the staples of a good budget, something every person should have, expenses and income are the main financial issues a person needs to understand. To begin you should gather all the relevant information. You may want to get bills, pay stubs and anything else that could help you list out your expenses and income.
The first thing to do is to track your daily expenses. This includes eating out, shopping and gasoline. You want to include these on your expenses list. You may need to gather receipts or actually keep a log for a week to be able to come up with an accurate account of your daily expenses.
Write out a list of expenses and then write out your list of income. At this point you should concern yourself with ensuring everything is listed. If your expenses or income vary then try to get a good average. You should have expenses separated into daily expenses and monthly expenses so you can see where your money is really going. Plus this will help when you go to budget your money.
Now you can begin to look at your debt. You should make out a list of your creditors. Your list should include the creditors contact information, the balance of your debt and the interest rate.
Now you should look at your personal finance accounts. This includes things like checking, savings and stocks. You want to list them all, including their current value or balance.
After going through your expenses, income, debt and personal finance accounts you should have a fairly good idea of where your personal finance matters stand. This should be a great platform for you to build upon to get your personal finances in good order. From this information you should be able to create a budget, get debt under control and best manage your personal finance accounts. You should be able to get the big picture about your personal finance situation and to understand it completely.
Stock Market- Basic Concepts
To acquire a clear and concise understanding of the stock market, it always helps to have an in-depth knowledge of its basic concepts. Before we move on to understand what a stock market is, let us examine the meaning of the word, ’stock.’ In economic terms, a stock is the smallest unit of ownership that a corporation offers to willing investors. If an investor owns a portion of the company, he/she shares the ownership of the company with other shareholders.
Shareholders don’t just share part of the company, they also have a say in important matters of the company; for example, the right to vote for the members of the board of directors. A shareholder also has the right to demand the company’s annual reports whenever he/she desires.
A company cannot take a shareholder for granted. Most of the profits that the company makes need to be distributed fairly among its shareholders. There are many reasons why a company feels the need to sell out shares into the market. It could be a need to extend the business and recruit new staff or to introduce a new product in the market. Whatever the reasons for a corporation to go public, the shareholders play a vital role in determining its future market position.
The concept of limited liability is one singular property of stock ownership. This feature implies that in case the company loses out on a lawsuit and arrives at a position wherein it has to pay up a significant judgment, the shareholders will not be affected so drastically. The worst that can happen to the shareholder is the price of the stock becoming valueless. In such cases, creditors do not normally come to seize the personal assets of shareholders. However this market behavior is not always consistent, particularly in case of privately owned companies.
There are mainly two kinds of stocks- common stock and preferred stock.
When we say common stock, we mean the major bulk of stock owned by the public. This category of stock allows the stockholders to vote and the power to acquire dividends. Dividends are part of the profits of a company that are shared by the shareholders and are usually given out on a quarterly basis. It is the common stock that usually determines the mood of the stock market- whenever you read or hear of the market going ‘up’ or ‘down,’ it is always about common stock.
Preferred stock differs from common stock through one significant property- preferred stockholders get higher dividends compared to common stockholders. However as the name suggests, preferred stock does not have too many advantages other than high dividends. Yet there are many investors who are willing to place their confidence on preferred stock for the sake of consistent dividends. If you are planning to go for preferred stock, always make sure to choose reliable companies that are known to generate substantial profits. This will ensure you of a good and constant flow of worthwhile dividends from the company.
Rules for Investing- How To Build a Portfolio of Safe, Secure Investments
In order to invest wisely, you need to have a suitable investment plan that will ensure the appropriate amount of growth for you. Your investments will also need to be safe and easy to manage.
Developing an Investment Plan:
The first step in developing an investment plan is to identify what type of an investor you are. Investor types are often determined by their stages in life. Here is a guide:
- Single person under 40 years old. Focus: Long-term investments, medium to high risk. Emphasis: capital gain, compound growth.
- Two-income married couple, no children, aged 20 to 40 years. Focus: Long-term investments, medium to high risk. Emphasis: capital gain, compound growth.
- One-income family, young children, aged 20 to 40 years. Focus: Long-term investments, low to medium risk. Emphasis: compound growth.
- Single person, aged 40 to 60 years. Focus: Medium-term investments, medium risk. Emphasis: capital gain, compound growth.
- Married couple with adolescent or independent children, aged 40 to 60 years. Focus: Medium-term investments, medium risk. Emphasis: capital gain, compound growth.
- All investors, aged 60 and over. Focus: Short to medium-term investments, low risk. Emphasis: Income.
The following are examples of investment portfolio mixes for the various types of investors.
Low Risk Investments:
Low risk investments are predominately cash, fixed interest and superannuation. This has the lowest risk of all investments but has also the lowest return - in today’s market, approximately 3% to 6% per annum. Fixed interest includes cash, cash management trusts and bonds. They return approximately 5% to 10% per annum, sometimes as high as 15% if you invest in global bonds in good markets.
Superannuation returns and risk profiles vary from institution to institution, however the best and safest usually return on average 10% per annum.
Medium Risk Investments:
Medium risk investments include property and non-speculative shares. Diversified funds, which invest in a range of asset groups, are also considered to have medium risk profiles. Average returns from these types of investments will range from 8% to 15% per annum.
I also like to include the broad spectrum of mutual funds, to be discussed later, in the range of medium risk investments. Some can return up to 25% and more depending on the fund type and managers.
High Risk Investments:
High risk investments include all speculative shares, futures and any other type of investment that is purely speculative by nature. Because with these types of investments we are betting on whether the price will go up, or sometimes down, I often classify this as a form of gambling. Accordingly, the returns are unlimited but so is the ability to lose the total money invested.
The basic rule for investing in highly speculative stock is to build in ’sell-out’ thresholds, three up and three down. For example, if you buy a stock at $20.00 per share, your sell-out thresholds might be:
Sell out threshold 3 $30.00
Sell out threshold 2 $25.00
Sell out threshold 1 $22.50
Buy $20.00
Sell out threshold 1 $17.50
Sell-out threshold 2 $15.00
Sell-out threshold 3 $10.00
Each time your stock reaches one of the threshold levels, you sell a third of your stock.
If the stock starts to rise, you sell a third at $22.50 and then another third at $25.00 and so forth. If the stock starts to fall, you also sell a third at $17.50, then another third at $15.00 and the final third at $10.00. In this way, you will never lose all your money, however you have also put a cap on the total profit you will make on the investment. This I have found to be the best and safest method for investing in speculative shares. In 1987, my husband and I were saved from the severe losses of the Wall Street crash because we were well and truly out of the market by taking our profits beforehand. Like all systems, this strategy will only work as long as you obey the rules and do not get too greedy.
Mutual Funds:
Mutual Funds are a selection of investments that are professionally managed by a financial institution or organization. These institutions have a wide range of specialists, researchers and advisor’s who devote their time to ensuring that the fund invests in the best companies and assets.
As well as the advantage of having experts manage your investments, managed funds also give you the ability to invest in a wide range of shares, property or fixed interest markets, either locally or internationally, for as small an outlay as $1,000. In the latter case, they also require a savings plan where you agree to deposit additional capital of a minimum $100.00 per month.
Because managed funds cover the whole spectrum of investment risk profiles, you can easily cover your preferred investment portfolio, as described above, by investing in several different funds.
Putting Together Your Investment Program:
After you have identified your investment type, you need to either seek a good financial advisor or devote your own time in researching investment options.
Shares have traditionally outperformed other asset groups over time. However, share markets can widely fluctuate in the short term, so any entry into the market should always be done with a long-term view of up to 10 years. Even the best managed share funds can fall if the stock market crashes or enters a severe downward cycle. As long as you ensure that you are with a reputable fund with good managers and are willing to ride the waves, your investment will do well in the long-term. If you are in the short-term, low risk category then your investments should be in the safer, more stable areas with lower returns.
Rules for Investing:
Investing may seem daunting for a lot of people. Maybe you have tried it once and failed, or maybe you are simply frightened of losing your money.
To avoid losing any capital, you simply need to be aware of the main pitfalls and always avoid them. The simple, reliable rules for investing are:
1. Have a plan. Always ensure that you or your financial advisor draws up an appropriate investment strategy for you that incorporates your risk profile, timeframes and financial goals. As foolish as it seems, many people plunge headfirst into investing without thoroughly working through these fundamental issues.
2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Obvious advice, but many people fail to follow it. Many people think that they are on the right financial track by paying off the mortgage on their family home and then buying another property for investment purposes. Think about it! You have put all of your financial eggs in one asset basket - property. What happens if the property market collapses? Despite common thinking that this is a safe way to invest, the outcome is very risky. You have invested all of your well-earned money into only one area.
3. Build in appropriate timeframes. There is an old saying, “When the tea lady starts to invest in the stock market, it’s time to get out.” What this means is, when the share market is so high that everyone starts to clamber on board, it has probably reached its peak. There are two ways of successful investment timing. The first is to always pick the low-end of the market to buy and the high-end of the market to sell. This is extremely hard to do. Even the best-informed experts have trouble. The second way is to choose good investments and stay with them over the long-term (say 10 years or more) and ride the waves of the market. For safe, easy investing, choose the second method. Do not buy into the top-end of the market and sell once it starts to fall. You will definitely lose money this way.
4. Avoid high-risk investments. These include risky business ventures, highly speculative stock, tax avoidance schemes or too-good-to-be-true propositions that promise unusually high returns.
5. Avoid borrowing for your investments. Although some financial advisors advocate ‘gearing your investments’, this can be fraught with danger. Gearing means to borrow. If borrowing for investments takes you over your 40% fixed costs margin, you will be cutting it too fine, particularly if you lose your current income level.
6. Stay with the traditional and known. The best and surest investments are fixed interest, property and shares. Although all asset classes will fluctuate over time.
Work out the optimum mix for your investment profile, have a safe plan to work with and you can’t go wrong.
Financial Freedom-save, not Sorry
August 23, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
FINANCIAL FREEDOM
Save, Not Sorry
It sure is an eye-opener to see what spending less now can do to your bottom line later on down the road. Opt for a cheaper car, and you may be able to retire earlier than you had planned. Shell out less on nights out with pals, and you can have that rainy-day fund you’ve been meaning to set up. Easy to say, hard to commit to, I know. But these facts should get you motivated. If you’re saving for a short-term goal, such as a home down payment or an emergency fund, you want your money to be super safe. That means a money market or savings account, CD, or T-bill. Currently, you can earn about a 5 percent annual rate of return. That may not sound like much, but here’s how it will add up:
·Save $100 a month, and you’ll have $6,829 in five years.
·Save $250 a month, and you’ll have $17,072 in five years.
·Save $1,000 a month, and you’ll have $68,289 in five years.
For longer-term goals, such as retirement, your money belongs in stocks or mutual funds, which offer the best odds for growth over time. (Remember, you won’t touch the money for another 10, 20, or 30 years.) An 8 percent average annualized gain is a reasonable expectation. This is how it will grow:
·Save $100 a month, and you’ll have $59,295 in 20 years and $150,030 in 30 years.
·Save $250 a month, and you’ll have $148,237 in 20 years and $375,074 in 30 years.
·Save $1,000 a month, and you’ll have $592,947 in 20 years and $1.5 million in 30 years.
For further reading on the subject visit:
http://www.allaboutmoney.ongoingprofit.com
http://www.freewebs.com/classifiedsavings
Guaranteed Personal Loan – Finance your Personal Needs!
August 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
As a borrower you would definitely look for a loan which can aid in meeting all kinds of requirements, be it personal or otherwise. Instead of availing different loans for various purposes, you can simply apply for a guaranteed personal loan. Our guaranteed personal loans can help you to meet all your personal needs like, educational, holiday, debt consolidation, etc.
Instant Personal Loan – Meet Your Urgent Needs Now!
Everyone finds themselves at some point or the other in need of money for some urgent needs. You may wonder what is the alternative to a person in such a situation if for some reason he cannot avail loans? The best option in such circumstance would be to apply for an instant personal loan. Yes, instant personal loans can help you avail loans immediately.
A lending institution lends instant personal loans directly to a borrower without the intervention of middlemen. These loans are available in both secured and unsecured form.
A personal loan online quote can help you to get your personal loan approved quickly just by clicking the online personal loans. The personal loan quote helps to get a better rate of interest on the loan amount. It can also help you to pay smaller debts which you have been trying to get rid of.
Low Interest Rate Personal Loan - Loans Available For All!
Do you have too many needs to fulfill and insufficient funds? Maybe you are on the lookout for a personal loan with a low interest rate. If you have been unsuccessful with your search, then we can help you. You can avail a low interest rate personal loan. This type of loan helps you to meet all your personal requirements like home improvements, educational purpose, medical expenditures, etc.
Have you been facing problems due to bad credit? Getting a loan with a bad credit poses problems. However, if you opt for a bad credit personal loan, you can avail loans instantly. Following are some of the benefits of availing a bad credit personal loan:
• A bad credit personal loan not only allows you to meet your personal needs but also helps you to build your credit.
• With a bad credit personal loan, you can easily buy a car, consolidate your debts, go for a holiday, etc.
• These loans are available in both secured and unsecured forms. The borrower can avail the loan that suits his needs.
• You can look forward for an easy repayment option.
• It enables you to avail a lower rate of interest on the loan amount.
• You can also avail a bad credit personal loan through online.
Today, availing personal loans has become very common among borrowers due to the immense benefit they offer. You can choose from a variety of personal loans which suits your needs and your financial situation. In fact, they are the best means to overcome bead debts.


















