We all want to make more money.
And, for many, the dream is to make money quickly and with a minimal amount of work. This is why investing is such a popular method of making money.
If you take a measured approach, you should be able to regularly invest in carefully chosen stocks, index funds or some other boring investment, and, over time, amass a reasonable amount of wealth as you receive returns on your investment.
Many people, though, don’t want to take the measured approach.
There are stories of people making money fast by choosing the right investment, at the right time.
How many of us regular folks harbor the dream of, perhaps, taking $10,000 in capital and turning it quickly and painlessly into ten times that amount?
The unfortunate truth is that investments that promise such riches, fast and easy, are usually scams.
Does that Investment Send Up Red Flags?
[read more on Investment Scams...]
Years ago, children graduated from high school, got a job and shortly thereafter got married, bought a home and had children.
This pattern may have been delayed a few years as more and more people obtained college educations, but the pattern remained basically the same.
Now, however, the number of adult children living with their parents has skyrocketed. In fact, as recently as 2010, Calculated Risk shared that nearly 13.5% of individuals ages 24 to 35 lived at home with their parents. This group has even been given their own name—Boomerang Children–because they leave the nest for some time but then return back home, sometimes for years.
If your adult child has moved back in, should you charge them rent?
Why Do Adult Children Move Back Home?
[read more on Charging Boomerang Kids Rent...]
It used to be revolutionary to hold your money with a bank that didn’t have any brick and mortar locations for you to visit.
Now high yield online savings accounts are more common and the decision comes down to which online bank you should open an account with.
There are many key factors in that decision — high interest rate, customer service, and account fees — that Ally Bank’s online savings comes out on top if you compare to other accounts.
What is Ally Bank?
Ally Bank’s story sounds eerily familiar to the mythical firebird phoenix that is rebirthed out of its own ashes.
That might sound strange for a bank, but Ally Bank is the new edition of GMAC or General Motors Acceptance Corporation.
GMAC was originally founded in 1919 and grew over the course of time, but like many banks a few years ago, got caught up in the financial crisis due to loose mortgage lending standards. The bank had to take on TARP funding from the government and was rebranded to shed some of the bad image associated with the financial crisis. A significant portion of the company is still owned by the US government, although the company is actively repaying on the funds it received. (And a majority of the problems are on the mortgage side of the business, not on the personal banking side that Ally is on.) [read more about Ally Bank's Online Savings...]
Facebook is set to have its formal IPO this week and trading will likely begin on Friday.
It is one of the most anticipated initial public offerings in history and will make Mark Zuckerberg quite the wealthy individual.
His employees won’t turn out so bad either — although they’ll likely pay about 45% in tax on the shares they sell. That’s okay though, since the average tax hit is anticipated to be $1.1 million per employee. ($1.1 million is 45% of $2.44 million, which would leave the average employee with $1.34 million. Of course we know how averages work: some employees will have much more, some will have much less.)
One interesting tactic to avoid paying taxes on the IPO? Renounce your US citizenship. That’s what one of Facebook’s four co-founders just did.
While most of us won’t have to worry about selling our shares of Facebook at million dollar profits, here are some tactics to help you manage the money you do have:
[click to continue…]
Having a line of credit handy is extremely important for a small business.
Honestly, you never know what kind of expense may creep up that you can’t cover with your cash flow at the moment. But it’s not easy or practical to get a business loan in a tight jam. What to do?
Enter small business credit cards.
Not only do they provide credit, you can also find benefits such as cash back, rewards, flexible payment terms, separate tracking for business expenses, and more!
Is a business credit card always the best option for you?
No. The CARD Act of 2009 put consumer protections in place for consumer cards but those protections aren’t mandatory for business cards. Also, if your business expenses don’t justify a line of credit then you may be fine without a business card. You may also find that you would be better off with a specific airlines miles card or travel rewards card that gives you better suited benefits than a card for your small business.
But if you are looking for a line of credit that’s separate from your personal cards or you are looking for a card that offers small business tools that will benefit you, like discounts or employee tracking, then a small business credit card can be a great choice.
Below are some of the best small business cards. See which one best suits your business needs.
[read more about Small Business Credit Card...]
