IT Leasing Can Streamline Your Budget Sheet

When it comes down to it, most business owners, CFOs and CTOs have objectives to streamline the business and keep unnecessary costs to a minimum. Here, we answer the important questions around the impact of leasing on company finances:

"If we have cash shouldn't we just buy our own equipment and services?"

At times of uncertain interest rates and inflation, cash, just as any other asset, is liable to change in value. In contrast, lease rates tend to be flat - making it much easier to predict your cash flow over the duration of the lease period. Cash is best used to reinvest in the business or saved in case of emergency and spares you from having to delve into your company overdraft.

"Why not purchase equipment and services using a bank loan?"

The benefit of leasing over a bank loan is that bank facilities should be utilised for cash flow purposes. If a company takes out a bank loan to acquire assets, then they are reducing any facility that they might require from the bank to fund day-to-day business activity - they might, for example, win a contract that requires large initial outlay, they might need to fund stock purchases or they might want to grab market initiative with a marketing campaign - if they have tied up bank facilities in assets, then that company is not able to use the bank when their business needs to react quickly to market opportunities. By leasing, you are leaving their bank facilities intact.

"How will a lease affect my balance sheet?"

Some types of leases can be recorded off-balance sheet. This can help improve some of your financial indicators such as debt-to-equity ratio or earnings-to-fixed-assets ratio. The knock-on effect of this is an improvement in your compliance with Basel II capital adequacy requirements and an overall reduction in your borrowing costs.

"Do IT leases carry any tax benefits?"

Yes. Currently lease payments count as operating expenses and are therefore fully tax-deductible. On the other hand, when using capital to fund equipment purchase, only the depreciation costs are deductible from your tax.

"Are there any other financial benefits of leasing?"

In creating a predictable and tax-deductible monthly payment structure, leasing also ensures you don't encounter redundancy or obsolescence difficulties. Selling your used equipment on the secondary market can be a difficult and long-winded process that does not regain you a great deal of capital.

IT leases are also much more flexible when it comes to changing your existing IT infrastructure and some will even ensure you are provided any updates or upgrades as they become available. No more expensive IT items on the balance sheet.

Checklist For Meeting With Your CPA

Inevitably, it's that time of the year again when you need to prepare to meet with your CPA to discuss taxes. You need to take stock of your investments, any financial transactions undertaken, and, most importantly, the paperwork to support these.

Typically, the biggest challenge revolves around locating and compiling the relevant paperwork when it is needed. To make the most out of your meeting, it makes sense to locate these documents and papers before you head out to the CPA.

Following is a short list of some common documents you should have before rushing off to your CPA.

Income Records
-Invoices
-Bank Statements
-Brokerage Statements
-Investment Account Statements
-Schedule K-1

Invoices, Bank Statements and Investment Accounts
As a small business, you need to carefully track your receipts and invoices. Any record of income, such as bank statements and investments need to be provided. The form 1099-INT which reflects your savings and interest is also required by your CPA.

For this reason, it is important to perform timely reconciliations of your bank statements and to keep your income receipts, investment account documents, and brokerage account papers easily accessible.

Schedule K-1
If your business is classified as a partnership or corporation, you are also required to report any income or loss in the form of a Schedule K-1. This form carries details of individual shares of income within a partnership or corporation.

- Expenses
- Miscellaneous office related expenses
- Mileage
- Payroll documents
- Mortgage interest statements
- Rent
- Interest expenses
- Insurance

Office Expenses:
Your expenses could range from direct office expenses, such as supplies, to more significant expenses, such as travel.

Mileage Expense
If you use your car for business purposes, you can claim it as a deduction or at least miles driven for business purposes as a deduction. Make sure you also track receipts for any tolls incurred while driving for business purposes.

Payroll Expense:
If your company hires employees, then you need to provide documentation of their salary or wages. There is also the Form W-2, W-3, and other state payroll returns such as Form 940 that you will need to keep updated.

In fact, the Social Security website has the capability of online W-2s, where you can create and print up to 20 W-2 forms for your employees. Check this URL: http://www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm to access the service.

Do you have people assigned to specific tasks in your company or hired for a specific expertise or duration? If so, then you need to report their earnings from you via a separate form such as a 1099-MISC which contains details of payments made to agents contracted by you.

You can also claim tax deductions if you are providing retirement plans to your employees. Keep this documentation on hand.

Mortgage Interest:
Many small businesses or enterprises operate out of the owner's home. If you are using your home for business purposes, you can include documents to support your mortgage interest, insurance, and other maintenance-related expense documents for the purpose of deductions. If you are self-employed, you may need to use Form 8829 for claiming this deduction.

Office Rent:
If your office premises are rented, you could claim deductions on the rental taxes related to real estate and other utilities.

Interest Expense:
Some small business owners have taken loans for business activities. Any money borrowed for business purposes can be deductible, if you have valid documentation supporting its usage.

Insurance:
Insurance policies taken for the purpose of business coverage can be reported as a tax advantage, so be certain to keep track of these insurance papers.

Use this checklist to prepare for your next tax meeting with your CPA.

Are Forex Markets the Biggest Trading Platforms?

Forex markets provide individuals with the single biggest trading platform in the world. Each day there are billions of dollars that are traded in different currencies. One of the biggest advantages of trading in forex is that it is open for twenty four hours. Apart from this liquidity is also a major factor that has made forex trading so popular.

There are different time zones that are available and traders can choose the forex markets of their choice. Different currencies are traded in pairs and this is a very fluctuating market where they go up and down each day. Some of the most popular pair of currencies that are traded daily includes U.S dollar/Euro and U.S dollar/Japanese Yen and U.S dollar/British pound.

There are various factors that determine their movement and it is important that traders are aware about them. A very interesting aspect about trading in forex markets is that they are both simple and complex at the same time. It is very simple for traders who have gained adequate knowledge about the techniques and terms used in forex trading and complex for those who trade on an impulse.

Most people who trade in forex are unable to make profits as they are not aware of the various aspects that drive this market. Lack of knowledge prevents people from making profits. The forex markets provide enormous opportunities for the savvy investor to make money consistently.

It is always advisable to start small in forex trading till you gain enough experience to take bigger risks. One of the best aspects of forex markets is that it is not controlled or dominated by any one single institution. Each day millions of traders participate in the trading that is done worldwide. It provides an equal opportunity for everyone to make profits.

There are many websites that offer traders the opportunity to open demo accounts where they can learn the various skills that are needed to trade live in the forex markets. As currencies are traded in pairs, you will be buying one currency and selling the other.

As the forex markets are open for twenty four hours daily, it offers traders a perfect opportunity to do many trading sessions and make small profits all through the day. Nowadays there are many online tools that are available to make the trading process easy.

There are various reasons due to which currencies of different nations fluctuate and traders will be able to respond to them immediately to minimize risks and increase profits. The number of people who have started to invest in forex markets has been on the increase. Although it is very popular a majority of people tend to lose money in it as they are not aware of the basic concepts of forex trading.

Most investors who are disillusioned with the low returns of the stock market have also started shifting their investments towards forex trading. Compared to the equities market the forex market has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years.

Steer Clear of Conflicts of Interest

In other articles, we've been discussing the new fee disclosure regulation and now it's time to chat about retirement plan conflicts of interest. Consider these circumstances when designing your plan to avoid conflicts of interest that could hinder your retirement savings efforts.

Big NO-NO! Avoid arrangements where the employer receives payments or incentives from the provider.

Quid pro quo transactions. Steer clear of arrangements where the plan sponsor or fiduciaries receive anything in exchange for plan transactions, assets or services. In an effort to create transparency, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed a regulation in 2007 which would require fiduciaries to declare any conflicts of interest. Though this regulation has not been finalized, it reflects the goal of the DOL to provide security for participants against conflicts of interest.

According to C. Frederick Reish and Joseph C. Faucher in their 2009 article on Fiduciary Duty, "The fundamental fiduciary duties are set forth in the so-called 'prudent man' rule, the duty of loyalty and the 'exclusive benefit' rule. These duties require fiduciaries to carry out their duties as would 'a prudent man engaged in a like capacity and familiar with such matters,' to act 'solely in the interest' of plan participants and to act for the exclusive purpose of providing retirement benefits to participants."

Additionally, revenue sharing creates an incentive for providers to suggest funds with higher revenue sharing payments, even if those funds are poor performers or have higher participant costs. Revenue neutral funds will avoid this conflict of interest.

Biased advice. A fiduciary with a conflict of interest may steer 401(k) plan sponsors toward investment funds that increase the service provider's compensation. Another big NO-NO!

I'm not a fiduciary. The Employee Benefits Security Administration can recover losses related to conflicts of interest when the service provider functions as a fiduciary. Many service providers structure their contracts with 401(k) plans to attempt to avoid meeting one or more of the five parts of the current definition of a fiduciary.

Recruiting rollovers. Conflicts of interest also arise when 401(k) providers sell non-plan products and services, such as IRA rollovers, to participants outside their 401(k) plan.

Miseducation. Fiduciaries who offer education materials and brochures to 401(k) participants may have financial interests in the investment options available.

Bundled funds. A provider that suggests its own investment funds or has an affiliated brokerage arm has an incentive to steer 401(k) plan sponsors to select their proprietary funds.

Brokerage repayments. An investment adviser can direct a broker-dealer to use commission revenues to pay the fees of other service providers or to purchase services of value to investors. These arrangements can create an incentive for the service provider to recommend a more active trading strategy to increase the number of transactions and consequently the amount of commissions.

Why The Dollar Will Collapse

How many times have you wished you could print money to pay your bills like our government does? Wouldn't it be great if you could? Of course, we are not allowed to print our own dollars to pay our bills like the government does to pay its bills.

Whenever private citizens do print money, it's called counterfeiting. When the government prints money it's called funding. Either way, whoever prints it, paper dollars are still worthless pieces of paper.

The only reason paper dollars remain in demand is people still trust them. Most of us have "faith" the dollar has value, when in truth no value exists.

At one time in our country's history, paper money actually had value. Called Certificates, Every paper dollar was redeemable in silver or gold at any bank. Those days are long gone.

Today, paper dollars created by the Federal Reserve System are called Debt Notes. They're called Debt Notes because that is what they are. Each Note has an outstanding debt owed against it which must be paid back with interest.

Since our government spends what it does not have, it must borrow from the Federal Reserve ever-increasing amounts of Debt Notes to remain solvent. It can do this only by rolling over old debt (including interest) into new debt.

This in turn creates ever-increasing amounts of debt which can never be paid back. There are simply never enough Debt Notes in circulation to pay back what is owed against them.

Consequently, the Federal Reserve System is a classic Ponzi Scheme made legal by an Act of Congress back in 1913.

It is an ever-growing mountain of debt and paper Debt Notes in circulation that creates monetary inflation. This mountain of debt and paper Debt Notes has been growing for over 40 years. It cannot continue much longer.

The time is very near when, by rule of monetary order, this Ponzi Scheme will implode, and the dollar will collapse on itself.

Politicians cannot stop the collapse or prevent it from happening. So it is incumbent on each of us to do what we can to prepare while there is still time to do so.

When the collapse occurs those left holding paper dollars, and dollar-based paper assets will suffer the greatest. 401Ks, Stocks, Bonds, IRAs and the like will become worthless overnight. And that's just the beginning.

We will wake up one morning and find we are in a very different world. Few people will have the where-with-all to make it through this mess unless they are prepared ahead of time going into it.

How Being Married Can Affect Your Insurance Premiums

The institution of marriage is one of the oldest social institutions in the world. It has historically been encouraged for the many positive aspects it brings to our society. Children who grow up in a two-parent home are viewed to be more stable and have less instances of delinquency than their single parent home counterparts. Marriage has shown to reduce stress and increase longevity. One area of your life that benefits from marriage but is seldom mentioned is your auto insurance.

But why would insurance companies offer lower premiums to married couples? The answer may be summed up in two general ways:

Married people are considered less risky

When you are married, your priorities change to include those of your spouse. You no longer have only yourself to think about. Be it consciously or subconsciously, married people tend to be more cautious than their single counterparts. Most individuals with children tend to drive more carefully especially when the children are in the car with them.

Insurance companies are aware of this and introduce driver discounts for married people. Now, being married does not automatically negate other important factors such as your driving record that may affect your premiums and may not necessarily translate into paying less for your insurance. Check with your insurer to see if you may get this advantage in your policy.

Married people tend to have more stuff to insure

Typically, when you have a family, the chances of having more than one vehicle are higher. If you and your spouse choose to use the same insurer to cover your vehicles, you may qualify for a discount on your premiums. If you are insuring more than one driver i.e. your spouse and eligible children, you may also get a discount for the same. If your insurance agency covers more than just automobiles, you may get discounted rates for insuring your other valuables such as your home.

You can reap lots of benefits if you fit several of the demographics that insurers typically award discounts to. For example, if you are a male individual who is over 25 years old working as a scientist in a metropolitan region with lots of public transportation, and is married, there are several discounts you can glean from your insurance agency. If you have all these and a good driving record, you will reap even more rewards from your auto insurance.

If the reverse is true, that is you are married but have a poor driving record or have many traffic violations, live or work in an area where public transportation is not reliable or available, then being married may not give you as much benefits as you would like.

Before you go rushing to the altar with the aim of lowering your premiums, do your research first. Find companies that offer these kinds of discounts within your geographical region. Once you have found a few of these, compare their rates to get the best one that suits your needs. All in all, comparisons will help you reap great benefits.

Consider Unsecured Business Loan to Help Grow the Business

When business owners are looking to expand their business or need a loan for another reason, they do not want to have it tied to any building or any of their other assets. An unsecured business loan might be a possible option for them. Not all business owners are able to obtain this kind of financing though.

As with most loans, this type of loan is based on the credit score also. Most businesses will need to have an excellent credit score and payment history in order to take out a loan that does not have any type of collateral. This can make it difficult for some companies.

When applying for these from a finance company, it may be a little easier than applying from a bank. There will be a simple application process to get all of the necessary information. It will also allow the bank to see how much the business needs and how soon they will be able to pay back the loan.

Many finance companies are able to give a fast approval. Sometimes, this can be in as little as a few hours, depending on the size of the finance company and how many representatives they have. It will also depend on whether or not all of the proper paperwork was submitted at the time of the submission of the application too.

Some of the paperwork that will be necessary is the financial statements from at least one year. Some financial institutions will require more than that. They will also need to have detailed plans on what they plan on using the money for. Some finance companies will require more than that but not always.

Many of the finance companies are going to require that the companies have been in business for over a year. Some of them have a certain length of time that they need to have been in their current location. If they move around a lot, it can look bad on the company.

There are a lot of different things that a loan could be used for in a company. Some of them may be looking into getting new office equipment or furniture while others are remodeling the existing building. There are many other things that business owners will be doing with the money.

There are some situations that they need to borrow the money at a lower interest rate to pay off their current debts and combine everything into one payment. This can make it easier to keep track of financial records. It can also save them a lot of money.

They may take out unsecured loans to pay off secured loans too. There are a lot of different possibilities. It is important to have a clear plan of what the money is going to be used for and how much is required to pay off all of the balances.

Credit ratings are important in personal financing options but it will also affect the business financing as well. When they can get loans that are not putting a lien on their vehicles, property or anything else, they are able to sell it when they want to instead of hanging onto it because it has a lien.

Not every business is able to get an unsecured business loan though. Even though, they are applying for a business loan, their personal credit rating could have an effect on the approval of it. There are a lot of reasons for a company to get a loan but it will be important to make sure that they are going to be able to pay it back.