Archive for October, 2008

What to do if you run your own small business

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Almost everyone understands the idea of life insurance. Often, family members do not want to see something that has been important to them sold up and dissolved. Pride and a sense of responsibility to employees complicate matters. In the case of a corporation, the other shareholders face problems of uncertainty in not knowing who will control the shareholding and potentially want to come in and run the business.

The answer is to plan for the business to continue after the death of the life insured. This requires action whilst the business is stable. Life insurance companies offer buy/sell agreements. The idea is that the parties agree a fair price for the sale when business is good. Firesales never produce good returns. There is no guarantee that the business itself would have enough liquid cash to buy out the deceased’s interest. But if an acknowledged business value is set for federal estate tax purposes and inflation-proofed, the buyer insures and links to the buy/sell agreement. Upon death, the insured value is paid to the business and used by the nominated individual to buy out the deceased’s interest.

Whichever permutation you put in place, the business can continue in exactly the way you want whilst still releasing cash to help provide for your family. All it takes is planning effort now. Talk to your insurance agent about the options and look for life insurance online quotes in the internet.

This money passes into the estate and can be used to buy an annuity or to generate income for the family to use as they think fit. It is a win-win situation all around. If the partnership is a separate business entity, it can insure the lives of the partners and buy out the interests of any one partner at a pre-agreed price. In the case of a corporation, either the major stockholders insure each other, or the corporation insures all major stockholders and uses the death benefits to redeem the stock at the agreed price.

Home improvement loans give you two-way value

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Let’s say you’ve found the perfect location for your new home but there are no good properties on the market. Moving to another house is not going to be easy given the present state of the real estate market, so enlarging or improving your own home is the best answer. The first option is an unsecured personal loan. Most banks offer home improvement loans without having to tap into the existing equity. More importantly, money well spent is stored in the higher resale price your home will command. Alternatively, your existing home may now feel cramped with a growing family, or just need improvement. If you maximized the resale value, let’s hope you will have some cash left over after a forced sale. But if the resale value of your home has fallen too much, you may be looking at bankruptcy if you cannot pay off what is owing.Most loans will be agreed in instalments so you can draw down as work milestones are reached. Thus, if you’re buying a fixer-upper, you need only take a mortgage for the price for the land and structure as is. Later when the work is completed, you can decide whether to consolidate the personal loan into the mortgage. Alternatively, if you have sufficient equity in the building as collateral, you can get a home improvement loan either as a second mortgage or as part of a refinancing deal to pay off the existing mortgage and take cash out for the improvements.

How does this loan business work?

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

In a sense, it could not be easier. You ask. If you’re still breathing when you finish asking, the companies give you the money. Well, it sounds too good to be true. So let’s take it apart and see what makes it tick. To start the whole process, you have to be an “adult”. To say that the service offered by payday loan companies is hassle free understates the case. States pass laws to make sure that people are protected from their own inexperience. As children, you are not allowed to borrow money. So, if you want to borrow, you must have celebrated your eighteenth birthday. States also limit how much you can borrow through an instant payday loan and cap the interest. Then you must be in work. This has to be a steady job, not part-time or occasional. Remember the point of the loan. It’s for those emergencies when you run short of funds between pay days. That means reasonable track record with the same employer. The amount you can borrow is limited to a percentage of your regular pay. Different companies have different rules, but the practical reality is that there must be more than enough to repay what you borrow plus the fee/charge when your next pay comes in. That means, of course, you cannot borrow for long periods of time. So you have used this site and applied for your payday loan online, answered the few general questions, and picked out a company. What happens next? By return, an agreement would have tumbled out of the fax. You would have signed it and sent it back. Now the only requirement is that you give details of your checking account and an authority for the lender to deduct the agreed amount from your account on the due date. Very little. In the good old, bad old days, you would have run round your home collecting payslips, bank statements and any other documents the loan company wanted to see. Then you would have spent a happy half hour or so getting everything faxed to the lender.

It’s a crisis. Can I get help?

Friday, October 10th, 2008

When you take a look around the TV and radio stations and, there’s one story everywhere. It’s this long-running story of the credit crunch, except now we’re seeing Wall Street take a hit. It’s not a glamorous job like these high fliers but, up to now, it’s paid the bills. But there’s a problem. Perhaps you’ve been caught with a medical emergency and a bill from the hospital, or your old car finally quit on you. Whatever the reason, you don’t have the savings to cover it. Some of the biggest names are in deep trouble. The Fed is pumping money into the banking system. Well, never mind what’s happening up there, what’s happening to you? You’ve been working. You don’t have a credit card or it’s maxed out.

The ideal was your employer giving you an advance but, when you asked, you found there’s a policy against it. No advances to anyone. That means you’re looking at a payday loan online- your credit score isn’t good enough to go to your bank for an overdraft. But what about the credit crisis? Does that affect you on Main Street? The answer is a definite “no”! The fact that Wall Street is in trouble has absolutely no effect on the market for loans to you. They are completely different markets. Strangely enough, the people most affected by all this are the better off. Those guys with the higher credit scores who used to be able to get a loan just by breathing will now find the going a lot tougher. Shame! Their security is in the authority you sign to deduct the sum due from your checking account on your next pay day. In fact, cash advance payday loans have been growing rapidly as a really strong performing market. Believe it or not, the more you borrow from the banks and finance companies, the more you are propping up Wall Street. Bet that makes you feel a whole lot better.