Advantages and Disadvantages of Factoring and Asset-based Lines of Credit

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Factoring and Asset-based Lines of Credit

What is Asset-Based Lending?

Asset-based financial services organizations (asset-based lenders) play a vital part in financing the economy and are dedicated to the growth and well-being of their clients. They provide their clients with cash by lending on fixed assets, accounts receivable and inventory, and engage in factoring, purchase order financing, real estate financing and leasing. They include the asset-based lending arms of domestic and foreign commercial banks, small and large independent finance companies, floor plan financing organizations, factoring organizations and financing subsidiaries of major industrial corporations.

Expert in all facets of collateralized lending, asset-based lenders - large and small alike - possess the experience and know-how to structure the proper financing program for their borrowers. They specialize in financing businesses and business transactions involving a broad range of products and services, both domestically and internationally. They provide:

- Operating cash
- Funding for an acquisition, a merger or a leveraged buyout
- Debt consolidation
- Turnaround financing
- Bankruptcy/reorganization financing
- Equipment financing
- Inventory financing
- Floor plan financing
- Equipment leasing
- Import/export trade financing
- Growth financing
- Factoring services
- Growth Money

Businesses need money to grow. A business cannot survive just because it has a better product, an exclusive market or the best method of distribution. The catalyst required for progress is money.

Business owners and managers must be knowledgeable about financing, what it can do, why one form may be better than another. It can be used when:

- Operating cash is tied up in receivables
- The best trade terms for supplies create cash flow shortages
- Inventory levels are high because of client demands
- Sales growth is straining resources
- Seasonality peaks cause problems
- No fixed assets are available for collateral
- Trade discounts and special pricing terms cannot be obtained
- Letters of credit are required to supply or buy overseas
- Debtor-in-possession financing is required

Asset-based lenders often advance funds when traditional sources are not available. They are familiar with various types of businesses and are responsive to client needs.

Loan size
Asset-based lenders fund businesses with annual sales less than $25,000 to more than $1 billion. Credit depends on the type of business and the content and quality of the collateral. Frequently, the credit granted is more than the net worth of the business.

The increased cash availability provided by asset-based lenders often makes the difference between profitable growth and failure for the undercapitalized business.

The phrases "too small," "too new," and "not enough net worth," do not deter an asset-based funding source.

The flexibility and cash availability provided by asset-based financing have enabled countless companies to grow and take advantage of market opportunities.

Cost
The cost of asset-based loans is influenced by the credit risk and collateral associated with the transaction. When evaluating an asset-based loan, borrowers should assess the cost of financing in the context of the benefits to be received. Compared with other financing alternatives, asset-based lending is very cost effective and efficient.

Asset-based lenders frequently look beyond financial statements to determine how much money they are prepared to advance at and after closing. Therefore, borrowers can take advantage of profit opportunities in the market by being able to plan ahead based upon their cash availability.

Asset-based lenders are proactive rather than reactive and can often restructure debt during tough times to help avoid costly and disruptive refinancing.

Over the long haul, the benefits will tend to offset the premiums associated with borrowing from the asset-based financial services industry.

Types of Asset-Based Financing

Secured lending
The lender provides funds secured by the assets of the borrower. The collateral can include: accounts receivable, inventory, machinery, real estate, patents, trademarks or other assets where value can be determined.

The secured lender may establish a revolving loan where the borrower provides a pool of collateral that the lender translates into operating cash or working capital. The borrower uses the financing to buy more materials, expand marketing, improve productivity or other improvements and sells the resultant product. The sales create receivables that are pledged for cash advances and the payments received on the invoices pay down the loan. These increases and reductions in the loan balance are cyclical, hence the revolving nature of the loan.

Some receivables have less collateral value, for example, progress billing, past due receivables, and receivables subject to "set-off". Raw materials and finished goods are normally acceptable collateral, but work-in-progress generally is not. Equipment and real estate may also be used as a source of financing.

Non-recourse factoring: The financing institution buys the receivable and assumes the risk of customer credit. The factor guarantees against credit loss, unlike a secured lending facility. The factor will also check credit, undertake collection and manage bookkeeping functions.

Full-recourse financing: The financing institution accepts assignment of the receivable but does not assume the credit risk. The client retains responsibility for managing the receivable portfolio. Generally, the lender will finance invoices up to ninety days from delivery of goods or services, then charge them back to the client.

Discount factoring: The factor purchases the receivables at a discount to compensate for paying prior to the due date.

Maturity factoring: The factor purchases the receivables, assumes the credit risk and advances cash to the client as the invoices mature.

Non-notification factoring: Account debtors are not notified of the sale of the receivables and the invoices are either paid to a lock-box or to the shipper. This is similar to a receivable loan.

Notification factoring: Account debtors are notified of the purchase of the receivables and are directed to make payments to the factor.
Spot factoring: A "one shot" transaction, generally out of the normal course of business.

Floor plan financing: Certain industries require significant high-priced finished goods inventory. Examples: automobiles, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions and stereo systems. These are supplied on extended credit terms to retailers. Retailers usually do not purchase this expensive inventory outright; rather a finance company will provide credit to purchase the inventory, secured by the product "on the floor".

Leasing: The lessor purchases the equipment needed to fulfill certain obligations and the equipment remains the property of the lessor even after all the borrowed funds are repaid; or existing assets are sold to and leased from a leasing company to release capital needed for working capital purposes.

Purchase order financing: Working capital financing is secured by a security interest in existing purchase orders and the proceeds of the purchase orders. Normally the security interest is perfected by the lender taking possession of the inventory or raw materials.

Real estate financing: the mortgaging of land and/or buildings to raise working capital.

More about factoring

The origin of the factoring industry has been traced to the days of the Roman Empire or even earlier, but the industry as we know it today in the United States goes back only about 200 years to the early nineteenth century.

Factors evolved from U.S. selling agents for European textile mills. The European mills used the agents to sell their fabrics in the U.S. and paid the agents a commission on sales. The agents also warehoused merchandise and did the shipping for their European clients. As these selling agents prospered and became more familiar with their own customers, they began taking on the job of establishing credit terms and advancing funds to the European mills. The oldest documented factoring firm traced its roots to 1810 and several others were established in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Traditional or old-line factoring is fairly straightforward and is designed for long-term relationships. It involves the purchase of receivables without recourse and with notification to the client's customer. The factor buys the receivables created by a client's sales and then collects the proceeds directly from the client's customer. After the factor buys a receivable, it assumes the credit risk on that receivable. If the client's customer doesn't pay because of a credit problem, the factor must assume the loss.

Essentially, an old-line factor offers its clients credit protection, collection, bookkeeping services and financing. In addition to advances against receivables purchased, once a relationship is established, factors often provide clients with over-advances during peak shipping seasons. Factors also offer financing services and accommodations such as inventory loans, letters of credit/import financing and equipment financing. Export financing is also available through alliances with international factoring networks.

Principally because credit guarantees are important in textiles and apparel and because of factoring's roots in the textile industry, about 70 percent of the volume of old-line factors is still in textiles, apparel and related industries.

Since the factor takes the credit risk on the sale, it must first approve the sale through its credit department. Thus, the client is relieved of the cost of running a credit department. Because of the credit guarantee, old-line factoring is limited to industries in which credit information is available. The charge for the credit and collection service, called the factoring commission, varies with the sales volume of the client, the size of the transactions and competitive conditions.

The economic rationale for the factoring service is fairly obvious. With thousands of suppliers selling to the same customer, without factoring, each seller would have to do its own credit appraisals and collections. This involves an incredible duplication of effort. With factoring, a single credit department operating for hundreds or thousands of suppliers, eliminates much of the duplication and promotes efficiency. And with the aid of electronic data processing, the cost of the credit and collection operation has been reduced exponentially and the savings are passed on to the client. Technology has revolutionized the industry, eliminating tons of paperwork and providing clients with valuable on-line information. The system can generate a host of reports on sales analysis and other information to help a client analyze its own business.

It should be noted that the factor's guarantee, is a credit guarantee and does not apply to anything other than the financial inability of the client's customer to pay. The guarantee does not apply to merchandise disputes between the buyer and the seller. If the receivable is not paid because of buyer claims of defective merchandise or untimely delivery or any other dispute involving the merchandise or its delivery, the factor will look to the client (the seller) for reimbursement.

The credit and collection service is just half of the business of the old line factor. The other half, and for many clients, the more important half, involves advances of funds against the purchased receivables. If the customer wants a cash advance, it can borrow from the factor. The interest on the loan is in addition to the commission and is usually at a rate competitive with the cost of a comparable bank loan.

Many factoring clients are maturity or non-borrowing clients. They wait until the purchased receivables are paid and then may collect the proceeds from the factor. If the client leaves the funds with the factor after collection, the factor will pay interest on the balances at a rate comparable with the factors' cost of funds. These balances may be drawn upon when needed.

Traditionally, factoring was done on a notification basis. The client's customer is notified that the account has been turned over to a factor and the customer's payment should be made directly to the factor. However, a non-notification agreement can be worked out. The factor would still purchase the receivables outright after doing the normal credit check of the customer, but the customer wouldn't be notified that its account has been sold. If the client borrows money, customer payments in non-notification accounts are usually sent to lock-boxes which the factor administers.

Aside from old-line factoring, there are as many variations on factoring as there are entrepreneurs who choose to use the name. There are commercial finance companies, some of which call themselves factors, single-invoice factors, purchase order factors, recourse factors, invoice discounters and re-factors.

- Commercial finance companies do not provide credit guarantees, but lend against collateral, principally receivables and inventory, and are an offshoot of the factoring industry and go back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Largely because the commercial finance companies operate in diverse industries in contrast with traditional factoring which is still largely married to textiles and apparel because of the need for credit guarantees in those industries, it has grown much more rapidly than traditional factoring. Rather than purchasing receivables, commercial finance companies take assignments of receivables as collateral for loans. The client collects the receivables proceeds and uses the funds to pay down the loan. Defaulted receivables are the client's problem (but could be the lender's problem if defaults are substantial). The lender normally provides enough of a cushion so that if the client fails to repay the loan, the collateral can be liquidated and provides full payment.

- Single-invoice factors provide essentially the same services as the old-line factors but they do it one invoice at a time. Also, there are very few non-borrowing clients for single-invoice factoring because a company that factors a single invoice usually is motivated by the need for financing.

- While factors finance receivables after they are created, purchase-order factors provide financing so clients can fill orders that they cannot finance on their own. Once the order is filled and is converted to a receivable, a traditional factor might purchase the receivable and cash out the purchase order factor.

- Recourse factors are usually small factoring companies that purchase receivables often in non-traditional industries where credit information is not readily available. They buy the receivables but those that are unpaid are charged back to the client.

- Invoice discounting is similar to the recourse factoring and is prevalent in England and some other European countries. The invoice discounter buys receivables, but rather than focusing on the credit worthiness of the client's customer, they concentrate on whether the contract creating the receivable allows sale or assignment. Non-paying receivables are charged back to the client.

- Re-factors provide the same services as old-line factors, but they work with small companies, sometimes with sales volume as low as $500,000 (generally large factors need at least $3 million in volume). The re-factors provide the financing, but use the services of traditional factors to handle the credit checking and credit guarantees. They make their money from interest on money advanced and a spread between the re-factors commission cost and what it charges its own clients.

Accessing finance can be a real problem for many small businesses, especially if they are growing fast. One option many businesses don't consider is factoring, or cash-flow lending as it is sometimes called.
While not suitable for every business, factoring can provide a revolving line of credit and a reduction in administrative costs.

Factoring involves the sale of a business' book debts on a continuing basis. Usually, the factoring firm will buy the business' sales invoices at a discount of between 70 and 90 percent. The factor then collects the invoice amounts from the business' customers. The business receives the cash, less the discount, from a credit sale quickly (usually within 24 to 48 hours) and maintains a healthy cash-flow even though the debtors may not pay for the sale for another 60 days or so.

Usually, the factoring firm takes the difference as profit; however some factor companies prefer to provide a percentage up front, the remainder on collection, and charge interest and fees on the transaction.

The use of credit cards in the retail industry is a form of consumer factoring, where the retailer is paid immediately for goods or services and the credit card company collects the payment from the customer. Some US banks offer asset-based cash-flow lending but have generally found limited interest in the products - with many businesses put off by higher interest rates charged to reflect the risk of lending against assets not secured by property.

Several Options
Factoring firms can offer several levels of service. The premier service usually involves taking over the complete management of the business' accounts receivable, including administration, confirmation, and collection of invoices, regular reports and monthly ageing reports on all accounts processed.

This is usually coupled with a seamless, confidential service, where the customer of the business is unaware of the relationship between the business and the factor and all communication between the factor and the customer is branded as the business. In other cases, the factor may only take over aspects of the accounts receivable function.

The level of service provided by the factor is often related to the value of the debtors book.

While it may appear complicated at first, outsourcing accounts receivable can significantly reduce costs. More importantly, it is particularly useful for businesses that are growing or moving in a different direction with a view to improving profitability. A growing business can quickly outgrow an overdraft secured by fixed assets, yet it may not be able to obtain finance on an unsecured basis.

A business may also need the flexibility to cover sudden increases in order levels. Factoring provides funding in line with sales growth.

This form of finance can also be useful for start-up businesses that need to pump cash back into their business to build their inventory, but have difficulty obtaining overdraft or working capital facilities due to a lack of trading history.

Service, manufacturing and wholesale businesses are often suited to this type of finance.

Businesses that mainly sell on cash terms to the general public may find credit cards or overdrafts more cost effective. Those with complex products or terms of sale such as trial and return clauses or those in the construction industry, where customers are invoiced in stages, are also less suited to factoring due to the complexity of the supplier/customer relationship.

Pros and Cons
As with all business finance, factoring offers advantages, disadvantages and potential pitfalls.

The level of benefit from factoring will vary from business to business.
But it usually provides:

* Immediate cash-flow access to 70-90 percent of the value of debtor invoices.

* Working capital for growth without requirements for a strong balance sheet or substantial net worth.

* A good interface with the supplier and, as a result, a seamless transaction for the customer.

* Outsourced debtor administration and associated cost savings.

* The ability to increase sales by offering credit which the business may have been unable to fund otherwise.

* The ability to take advantage of creditor discount terms, improve credit rating by being able to pay creditors promptly and an enhanced ability to capitalize on larger orders as required.

* The option to free up property from being tied as security.
Some issues that should be considered if looking at factoring as an option include:

* Complexity. Rather than simplify the account-keeping, factoring may add complexity to the business depending on the level of integration of account-keeping processes.

* Culture. If the culture of the business and the factor are at odds, the arrangement may interfere with the relationship with customers.

* Bad Debts. In most cases, the business still wears the non-collection risk and may end up following a restrictive process to maintain the facility.

* Cost. It can be expensive depending on the interest and costs charged by the particular firm such as finance charges, administration charges, mailing charges, etc.

* Asset control. Some factors take a floating charge over all the business' assets not just debtors. Consequently a business may need to obtain a release from the factor to sell any of its assets.

* Value. The factor may only finance a percentage of the debtor value and may undertake its own audit of the business' accounts.

* Customer relations. Some factors will take over the entire debtor ledger which may cause difficulties if a business wishes to remain in control of some accounts that are particularly sensitive or vital to the business.

* Security. Some factoring firms now require small businesses to provide property as security in which case it may be cheaper and more effective to arrange a bank overdraft.

One of the most common traps for small businesses using factoring is the assumption that outsourcing the function means outsourcing the responsibility.

The benefit of using a factoring facility still depends on good management of debtors and the finances of the business. Every business must manage their terms of trade, and ensure the terms they offer and the credits they receive are appropriate for their particular business. They need an effective debt collection system and simple internal controls to prevent errors.

Factoring could cause additional problems for businesses without a good handle on cash-flow management and cost budgeting. They may find themselves in a downward spiral, spending debtor receipts on current overheads and not paying the current creditors and then wondering what went wrong. They need to understand the money flow of the business and use short-term funding such as factoring on short-term assets.

With good management, the use of factoring can be a very useful source of finance particularly for a young business that is growing fast. However, there are plenty of traps for the unwary, and as always, if in doubt get advice before committing to any form of finance.

Copyright (c) 2007 Gregg Financial Services

Accounting Responsibilities Of Branches

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Accounting Responsibilities Of Branches

As a company grows and expands into new markets, it may be necessary to establish branches with some degree of autonomy in order to provide a better service to clients. The degree of autonomy granted to the managers of such branches by the head office and the accounting records maintained by these branches, differ considerably from one enterprise to the next.

The accounting system used to record branch transactions can also vary considerably from the centralised accounting system, where processing is done entirely by head office, to a basically decentralised accounting system, where most of the processing of the branch transactions is done by the branch itself. In other cases the accounting function can be shared, some of the data may be collected and processed by the branch while, other information is maintained by the head office. Whatever system is chosen, it must be designed to satisfy management's needs.

If the branch is big enough it may have a complete accounting system independent of that of the head office. These two extremes are referred to as situations where (1) branch accounts are kept by head office and (2) the branch keeps its own accounting books. In practise, accounting for branches usually falls somewhere between these extremes.

The decision as to whether a branch should do its own accounting is based on the extent of its transactions, its distance from head office, the degree of control that can or must be exercised, the ability and independence of the branch personnel and security considerations. The chief criterion, however, is always efficiency.

Where an organisation has branches, two types of entity can be distinguished. First, the undertaking can be considered as a separate entity. The financial result and position of the undertaking as a whole is the combined result and position of the head office and its branches.

It is important to distinguish between internal accounting transactions, that is, transactions between branches and between branches and the head office and external accounting transactions, that is, transactions with third parties. Internal transactions are eliminated in the combined financial statements of the enterprise as a whole, that is, the head office and its branches. If this is not done, there will be a duplication of the results of these transactions. Recording the internal transactions between branches and between each branch and head office is, however, essential for obtaining a complete accounting picture of the operating result of each branch. Therefore, mutual or internal purchases and inter-branch sales are recorded separately from external transactions.

Accounting In Manufacturing And Trading Concerns

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Accounting In Manufacturing And Trading Concerns

A motor car manufacturer, for instance, buys steel, rubber, aluminium, plastic, etc, that is used to manufacture motor vehicles that are sold to dealers (the trading concern). These dealers, in turn, sell vehicles to the customer.

From an accounting point of view the activities of manufacturing and trading enterprises are very similar, especially their administration, sales and financing activities. Therefore, the accounting principles and most of the procedures can be applied to both manufacturing and trading concerns. The main difference between the two is their method of cost accumulation and cost determination for (1) inventory valuation and (2) the calculation of the cost of goods sold. The difference arises from the fact that trading enterprises buy completed goods, while manufacturers make the goods sold by dealers.

The 'accounting cost of goods manufactured' item in the manufacturing enterprise therefore corresponds to the 'accounting cost of good purchased' item in the trading enterprise. In both cases these amounts represent the cost of finished goods available for sale. The trading enterprise, having purchased its goods in a 'finished' form, experiences little difficulty in determining their cost. The manufacturing enterprise, on the other hand, has to account for the cost of converting the raw materials into finished goods (also know as manufacturing costs).

In converting the raw materials into finished products, the manufacturer makes use of labour, machinery and equipment and also incurs other manufacturing costs such as power consumption, maintenance of machinery, etc. All these costs must be added to the cost of the raw materials to determine the cost of manufactured goods for any period.

Therefore, the accounting records of a manufacturing enterprise must be extended to make provision for recording the various additional costs peculiar to manufacturers.

The three most important elements of manufacturing costs are material, labour and manufacturing overheads. In accounting costing terminology, material and labour costs together are known as primary costs, while the accounting term conversion costs represents the combination of labour and general manufacturing costs.

By virtue of the nature of a manufacturing enterprise's activities, it will require more accounting ledger accounts than a trading enterprise. The ledger must provide for aspects such as machinery and equipment, inventory, raw materials, work-in-progress, finished goods, etc. It is necessary to devote special attention to the various inventory accounts.

At any given time, a manufacturer will have different types of inventory on hand: material inventory ready for use in the manufacturing process; partially completed products still in the process of being manufactured; and finished goods that must be dispatched to dealers. Inventory accounting records and different accounting inventory accounts must be kept in order to determine the costs of each type of inventory at the end of a financial period. All three inventory accounts are asset accounts and are usually kept according to a perpetual accounting inventory system. At the same time they are control accounts supported by the appropriate subsidiary records

Accounting And Reporting Requirements Of Close Corporations

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Accounting And Reporting Requirements Of Close Corporations

Companies and close corporations (CCs) must keep the following: records showing assets and liabilities; a register of fixed assets; records containing daily entries of all cash received and disbursed; records of all credit purchases or sales and services received or rendered on credit, in sufficient detail to identify the nature of the transactions and the parties concerned; statements of annual stock taking; records enabling the value of stock at the end of the year to be determined and vouchers supporting entries in the accounting records.

A corporation must also keep records of members' contributions, un-drawn profits and revaluations of fixed assets and amounts of loans to and from members, in sufficient detail to identify the nature and purpose of the individual transactions clearly.

These records must be kept in such a manner as to provide adequate precautions against falsification and to facilitate the discovery of any such falsification. A corporation that fails to keep such accounting records and every member who fails to take all reasonable steps to prevent falsification is guilty of an offence. However, if the members entrusted the duty of keeping the accounting records or maintaining a system of internal control to a 'competent and reliable person', this would be sufficient defence.

The financial year of a CC is its annual accounting period. A CC must specify the date of the end of its financial year in its founding statement. As is the case with other information in the founding statement, the date of the end of the financial year may be changed by, registering an amended founding statement.

The members of a corporation must, within a maximum of nine months after the end of every financial year, have financial statements prepared. The financial statements must be approved and signed by or on behalf of every member of the corporation and must consist of an accounting balance sheet and notes thereto and an income statement or any similar financial statement, where such form is appropriate and any notes thereto.

The financial statements must disclose separately the aggregate amounts at the end of the accounting financial year and any changes in these amounts during the year of contributions by members, un-drawn profits, revaluations of fixed assets, amounts of loans to members and amounts of loans from members.

The Close Corporation Act does not require a directors' report or an auditors' report and also does not contain a schedule, which lays down specific requirements for the preparation of annual financial accounting statements. The financial reports of a CC must, in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP) appropriate to the business of the corporation, fairly present the state of affairs of the corporation at the end of the financial year concerned and the result of its operations for the year.

In determining what constitutes generally acceptable accounting policy for the business of a particular corporation, the needs of the members and the primary users of the financial statements should be taken into account.

Over the years accounting practices in the various economic and industrial environments have developed in such a manner as to record and fairly present transactions and occurrences specific to these environments. In deciding what is 'suitable for the business', consideration should also be given to the commercial and management activities of the corporation and the accepted accounting practice in the working environment of the corporation.

Accounting - Net Operating Losses

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Accounting - Net Operating Losses

A Net Operating Loss is considered when the total income of a business or profession is less than its expenses or losses. A net operating loss (NOL) can apply to individuals, estates and trusts, if deductions exceed their income from all sources, personal or business-related. However, a business cannot operate at a lost forever. Normally, a business is expected to realize a profit within three to five years. These entities are expected to keep its accounting records accurate and in order, so that required information is readily available. The information will reveal the overall financial condition of the owner and the business.

Accounting for a Net Operating Loss of your business is outlined in income tax laws, which require each owner of a business to report the details of the business operation as part of the owner's personal income tax return. A net operating loss is normally carried back over the two preceding years to offset taxable income. This process requires an amended return for the years involved. If the carry-back does not use up the loss, it can be carried forward until the remainder is used up. In 2001 and 2002, Congress extended the carry back period from two years to five years. If you incurred a net operating loss during those two years and did not specify a carry-back period, you were bound by the five-year rule. The NOL was only extended for those two years and reverted back to the original law in 2003.

The normal process of claiming a NOL is to carry it back two tax years before the NOL year and deduct it from income you had in those years. You can choose skip carry back process of an NOL and only carry it forward. However, there are rules in the details for figuring the NOL in each tax year and how much is carried to the next tax year. Contact the IRS for information on these rules. Unless you choose to waive the carry-back period, you must first carry the entire NOL to the earliest carry-back year. If the NOL is not used up, you can carry the rest to the next earliest carry-back year. Any remaining amount after two carry-back periods must be carried forward until it is used up.

Although a net operating loss can result in a prompt refund or a tentative adjustment for that tax year, accounting practitioners must be well versed on the new laws in order to avoid common errors. Practitioners can avoid these errors by making sure all rules are followed accurately and timely. What seem to be a small deviation from the rules, such as not using the proper claim form and processing in the time allowed or not including all supporting documents with the tax return, could cause the claim to be delayed or even denied. If the tax return has been audited, a copy of the examination must be included. Any claims not filed within the one-year period will be treated as an amended return. A separate form is required with each claim. Missing and inaccurate records can pose a problem for your accounting agent and for completing your claim.

The accounting practitioner must also look for other factors or changes that will affect your entire tax return, such as a change in filing or marital status. When such changes occur, a complete analysis of each spouse's total and taxable income, calculations, deductions, exemptions, etc must be provided. This information must be considered when figuring the NOL carry-backs and carry-overs for married people whose filing status changes for any tax year.

Incorrect calculations and figures are common errors that will delay your claim. Make sure your figures are correct and based on the figures from the original filed return. If there have been any adjustments to the original tax return amounts, use personal records or order an IRS transcript of the tax account. The IRS uses a different table for each year. The correct able must be used to calculate each carry-back year.

In accounting for an alternative tax net operating loss, the IRS requires a Form 6251 to determine the total adjustments for the ATNOL deductions. If the form is missing, a new form must be created from other tax records. If there are incorrect ATNOL calculations, figures must include all non-business and business capital gains and losses when correcting the problem. Charitable contributions are not affected by a NOL carry back. Only carry-forward losses will affect the adjusted gross income for permissible contributions.

When combining multiple years' NOL carry-backs on the same form, a breakdown of how each NOL changed must be shown separately, starting with the earliest one to determine your NOL deduction. A copy of each separate computation sheet must accompany the return. Net Operating Losses have different processing dates and statutory requirements than regular tax changes. Therefore, non-NOL adjustments must be process separately.

Farming business is a trade or business where participation is required in cultivating the land, raising or harvesting crops of an agricultural or horticultural nature, operating a nursery, raising or harvesting fruits or nuts, other crops or ornamental trees. The raising and management of animals is also considered a farming business. However, any contract harvesting of crops grown or raised by someone else, or a business that merely buy or sell plants or animals grown or raised by someone else is not considered a farming business. Certain timber losses may qualified as a farming business if any part of the property meet certain guidelines and the income and deductions fall within the required date guidelines.

You most likely to qualify for a net operating loss (NOL if your deductible loss from operating your farm is more than all of your other income for the year. A property loss due to the destruction of farming equipment or animals by a natural disaster or theft of property, whether personal or business-related, could qualify as a casualty loss, if the loss is more than your income.

Records must be kept for any tax year that generates an NOL for three years after you have used the carry-back/carry-forward or three years after the carry-forward expires.

About Finance or funding for Bed and Breakfast

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About Finance or funding for Bed and Breakfast

Bed and Breakfast achieved tremendous success as an alternative of traditional hotel or motel. Many people now a day is quitting their jobs and plan to start their own bed and breakfast accommodation in their own property. Generally bed and breakfasts are handled by couples and mostly they own the property. Every Bed and breakfast is different from each other and may vary in services and interior as well.

Many times it happens that potential buyers of bed and breakfast or someone who wish to start their dream bed and breakfast business may need financial help or need loans to fulfill their dreams. There are many options now a day which can help you buy your dream bed and breakfast property. In this article we will see some of the options available to get financial help from as well as we will discuss about funding as well.

Guidelines to get financial help from sources!

When you plan to think about taking loans for bed and breakfast you need to contact someone who has experience in bed and breakfast, you should discuss your issues with them and let them suggest few ideas first. This is initial and basic thing that anyone can do.

First step is to make plan of your bed and breakfast and lets some professional person to give advice on it and just get rough idea about budget and all.

You can approach to standard banks for loans on your bed and breakfast, but you will have to show them your business plan and certificates that your land qualifies some specific standards. If you have sufficient documents you will easily get loans for your bed and breakfast.

Commercial lenders may be quite suitable approach for getting financial help for bed and breakfast as they have data of bed and breakfast as well as they have idea about pricing of any bed and breakfast. So it is great option to go for commercial lenders, if you know someone personally.

Other private finance companies can be option to go for financial help. There are many private firms which help to get bed and breakfast mortgages or loans at an effective interest rate. Private financial companies will require total details of buyers as well, they will verify the financial situation of buyer as well they have set certain rules and criteria for financing bed and breakfast, if buyers meet those criteria than finance will be no more issue for them.

These are some of the ways from where you can get finance for your bed and breakfast.

There are many ways to raise funds for your dream project of bed and breakfast. As it is not always that you will get it easily so one may need to do decide budget of the bed and breakfast, try to get government grant as you wont need to think about paying back them etc.

These are certain ways you can raise funds for your bed and breakfast as well. You can do a lot to get funds for your bed and breakfast and it will be worth it if you get expected business so it is necessary that you are also financial capable to face any economical crisis after starting bed and breakfast of your dream as it is not that you will get customers at the first shot, you may have to wait for some time to get your bed and breakfast noticed by others and till that time you have to pay all expenses from your pocket itself without any income.

Copyright 2012

A Narcissist Cannot Apologize or Take Accountability

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A Narcissist Cannot Apologize or Take Accountability

An individual with narcissistic personality disorder has a hair line trigger to any criticism real or imagined, and cannot be wrong. This creates a highly abusive situation for a person in a narcissistic relationship, because the narcissistic personality will perform outrageous abusive crimes and will take no responsibility for his or her actions.

According to the narcissist, he or she is above reproach and it is always someone elses fault. The narcissist will use all sorts of malicious weapons to avoid taking responsibility and apologising, including adamantly and righteously denying any wrong doing, using lies as weapons to distract, citing that he or she did apologise when no credible apology was forthcoming, projecting by reaching into past unrelated incidents to use any slight he or she can muster against the other person, or by creating abandonment or threats to abusively make the other person back down or take on the fault instead.

When trying to get a narcissist to be accountable for painful, abusive and pathological acts, hooking into being abused is certain, and accountability from the narcissistic personality impossible. If trying to make a narcissist take responsibility and say sorry, the harder you try the harder the narcissist will hit back. Non-narcissistic individuals who possess a conscience are no match for the conscienceless narcissist. Be very aware that if he or she is cornered, the narcissist is more likely to devalue and discard you, exit the relationship, and abandon loving you rather than be accountable and risk injuring his or her false self.

Be very aware that if and when the narcissist does take responsibility and apologise it will be for one of two reasons. The first is because a severe enough narcissistic injury has occurred that the narcissistic personality will hit rock bottom and the false self (which needs energy to hold up) disappears and the real person emerges.

Dont be fooled into thinking that is time will remain, because as soon as the narcissist resumes enough relief (energy) to reinstate the false self, up it will come again. This is when a person with narcissistic personality disorder will discredit the therapist and his or her spouse or partner will be shattered, realising the sincerity was short-lived, and the nasty non-accountable person has returned.

The second reason a narcissistic personality will act accountable is when no other option is left to secure or retain narcissistic supply. This generally happens when the person who has been the source of narcissistic supply gains enough strength to leave and stay away, and cannot be hooked back into thenarcissisticrelationship any other way. Once the individual is hooked again, thenarcissistic personality will return, but usually in an even more punishing form, to pay back theindividual for having enough strength to leave in the first place.

A Mortgage Broker will Save Your Time & Money

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A Mortgage Broker will Save Your Time & Money

Australia is a beautiful country to reside. Different types of mortgage services are offered by mortgage providers that may help you to fulfill your dream. Mortgage managers, banks, credit unions, brokers, insurance groups all offer a seemingly endless choice of loan options - introductory rates, standard variable rates, fixed rates, redraw facilities, lines of credit loans and interest only loans, the list goes on.
The first important thing is to search for a property that suits to your budget. Searching a best property is a hesitating work. Not all people are able to do this work. A mortgage broker can help you to find the best deal that suits to your budget. He takes the time to discuss your needs and circumstances with you. This gives the broker the opportunity to determine which type of home loan is most suitable depending on your current needs and financial circumstances. The broker will tell you to have some documents like 100 point check list for identification, personal bank statements to demonstrate savings (if applicable), tax returns, pay-slips, any outstanding loans, statements, etc. The property dealer will advise you of the relevant documents that you will need to bring with you to your meeting to facilitate this process.

Once the mortgage broker will understand your need, financial situation, and goal, he will suggest you the properties & will discuss the various home loan products available. They will also give you option to compare different types of home loans available and choose the best one. He will then recommend a product or products, which suit your needs. You should also be provided with a copy of the mortgage lenders comparison rate schedule. You can compare rates include both the interest rate and fees and charges relating to a loan and are a tool to help you identify the true cost of a loan. If you have selected the property, the mortgage broker will help you to complete the necessary paperwork and liaise with the lender on your behalf. This will include the completion and submission of your mortgage loan application and the on-going communication between all parties until your home loan is approved and settled. Thus a mortgage broker can help you the find the best deal & thus there will be saving of time & money.

YEG Finance is a well company of Australia that deals in mortgage services. If you want to know more about residential construction financing and home loan to build a house, please visit http://yegfinance.com.au/.

A Few Steps toward Prosperity and Enjoying Financial Freedom

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A Few Steps toward Prosperity and Enjoying Financial Freedom

"Wealth is not his that has it, but his who enjoys it" - Benjamin Franklin

Prosperity is embraced in different ways by different groups of people internationally. To some it means an abundance of money with plenty of luxury and indulgence, whilst to others prosperity simply means having food on the table, education for their children and a roof over their head. Of course there is no right or wrong, it all depends on your own definition of what it means to be prosperous. However, when we address financial prosperity, most people would agree that the best of all worlds would be to have financial security in order to have freedom from financial worries, group that with the ability to spend time with family and friends and the joy of feeling successful in a chosen career, and you have a fairly popular international view on the subject.

The financial freedom aspect of prosperity is the most highly pursued in order for families and individuals to achieve a better quality of life. When that element is taken care of, everything else seems to just fall in to place. It is then possible to have the flexibility to spend more time with your family, pursue your dreams, accomplish your goals, educate yourself and your children or enjoy your retirement. With just a little planning and organization we can all achieve our own financial security and live the life of our dreams.

Become Debt Free

The first step toward achieving financial freedom is to resolve your debts. Aim to pay off all personal loans, car loans, student loans and credit cards as quickly as possible. You need to make a list of all your debts, and rank them according to the type, amount, and interest rate. If you need help with figuring out exactly where to begin, it is in your best interest to seek advice from a professional Financial Planner in order to devise an appropriate plan for your own unique situation. However, short term, low cost investing can fast-track your repayment plans considerably. The aim is to get rid of debts as quickly as possible in order to enjoy the fruits of prosperity sooner.

Have an Income Back-up Plan

Have a back-up plan in place just in case your current income stream is somehow jeopardized. In these turbulent economic times, your main income stream is not necessarily reliable for the long haul. It's time to discover newer and more modern ways of generating income, rather than thinking of taking up a second job. So, no matter what eventuates you will have a second income stream already established without having to sacrifice your free time. There are a variety of tools out there to help you achieve this, however one of the safest short term cash-flow generating tools which also requires very little time input is Index Trading. As an example the Prosperity Group International Auto Trader is one such option.

Control Your Expenditure

Ensure that you control and manage your expenditure by putting aside approximately 20% of your income, this allows you to respond to any financial surprises, as well as commence your savings so you can put an investment plan in place. For most people investment options have only been possible to implement if they already have a number of income streams, normally a regular wage is barely enough to cover basic expenses. These days however, with the advent of short term cash-flow generating tools which are quite inexpensive to implement, most people are able to participate in order to generate extra income. Again, Index Trading should be considered as it is the safest option.

Save For The Future

Once your expenses are manageable and debts are cleared, you need to save for the future through, for example, investments, emergency funds and retirement investments, as many of these give you the advantage of compound interest, where your money grows more efficiently than just having it in a high interest bearing account.

Enjoy Financial Freedom

Once you have covered all of the above steps and achieved financial freedom, you will no longer experience the daily stress of worrying about having enough money to pay your bills and just meeting the general day to day cost of living. You can then enjoy the financial flexibility you have created for yourself by actually living the life of your dreams. You can live in your dream home, take your dream vacation, and generally live your life to the fullest. More than a financial status, financial freedom is a mindset and once you attain it, you can only enjoy and keep it by maintaining the practices that got you there.

A Debt Settlement Strategy Will Change Your Life

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A Debt Settlement Strategy Will Change Your Life

Its a whole lot easier to get into debt than it is to get out of it. With todays skyrocketing interest rates and exorbitant fees, a moderate debt left untended can soon become enormous and take over your life. If you find yourself in this situation, you should immediately embark on a debt settlement strategy. The longer you wait, the deeper in debt you get. When you meet with a debt relief expert, youll set up a savings plan with monthly deposits. That money goes into a trust fund where it will be safe until you have built up enough to negotiate with. A debt settlement negotiator will then offer your creditor a lump sum payment, which might be as much as 60 percent less than what you owe. Theres no guarantee that the creditor will agree, but many do. The process is repeated until all creditors are paid and you are free of debt.
How Can I Fund My Debt Settlement Strategy? Wait a minute! you may be thinking. I dont have enough to keep up the payments on my credit cards. How am I supposed to save money every month? Well, youll need to cut down your spending, and youll need to cut up your credit cards. Here are some suggestions for ways that you can fund your debt settlement strategy. First, know where your money is going. Keep track of your expenditures for a month, and then figure in those expenses such as insurance, tuition, or other fees that are due less frequently. Your debt relief counselor will help you find some expenses that can be cut significantly. First look at the big items. If you own your home, you could try to refinance. If you have property other than your primary home, such as a vacation condo, you might want to sell it or lease it. Ask yourself whether you really need two cars. If you have expensive toys such as a boat or motorcycle, think seriously about selling it. Remember that getting yourself out of debt is your first priority. Small savings add up, too. If you spend ten dollars every weekday buying lunch, bringing it from home will save you about $2,500 a year. Even bringing a travel cup of coffee instead of spending four dollars a day on a mocha latte will save you a thousand. A debt relief program will require discipline and patience, but the good financial habits youre establishing today will pay off mightily in financial freedom in the future.

For more information regarding debt relief and debt settlement, please visit http://www.debtrezllc.com

A Couple Of Good Reasons To Sue Your Creditor And Eliminate Your Debts

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A Couple Of Good Reasons To Sue Your Creditor And Eliminate Your Debts

Many people facing financial tough times want to know what their legal rights are and how they can use them. To answer a few of the most asked questions I have put together this article on whom you can sue and what you can sue for. Lets begin with a question that people ask me all the time. When can I sue my creditor and what can I sue them for? To answer this question I will first start by saying yes you can sue your creditor for many different reasons. One of the first reasons is if the creditor has reported your credit history inaccurate. Your claim against them could be one of Defamation or financial injury. There is case law giving precedent to this in the US Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, No. 00-15946, Nelson vs. Chase Manhattan. This court found Chase responsible and fined them for the degree of damages incurred by the wrong that took place.

Another thing that many people with credit card debt ask me is if they can sue a creditor for falsely stating a disputed credit account on your credit history. The answer again is yes. Yes you can sue the creditor if you have disputed a debt, and they have failed to report it as disputed account to the credit bureaus. You can sue the creditor for this because of Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the specific laws that are invoked to your favor. The fine for this erroneous credit reporting to your creditor is $1000.

Another creditor claim that people typically have is against collection agencies when collection agencies pull credit with out permission. When collecting on a debt, Collection agencies routinely pull credit for accounts that are in default. This happens when a creditor allocates the account to third party collectors. Once the account has been allocated to a third party collector who is not the original creditor the creditor has given up their right to collect on the debt. Therefore if the collection company who you have never heard of before attempts to collect on that debt they had better validate that you owe them money or it would follow that they have no right to do a credit inquire on your credit history.

If there is not a valid contract stating that the debt is owed or showing proper assignment of the account to the collector then there is no way of knowing if the third party debt collector is the holder in due course. (Collection agencies are not in the business of lending money and frequently more than one company at a time tries to collect on debts) The law states in the Fair Credit Reporting Act under Section 604 injury to your credit report and credit score is a $1000 fine. I don't know about you but if credit is pulled without permission and the creditor cannot verify that you gave them permissible purpose then I would consider a claim against them. The citing case law is Cushman, v. Trans Union Corporation US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court Case 115 F.3d220, June 9, 1997, Filed (D.C No. 95-cv-1743)

In summary there are many reasons why someone could sue their creditors. Next time you are dealing with a collection agencies be sure to think twice about your defenses and course of actions.

A Brief Discussion over the Pros and cons of Government Grants for Business

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A Brief Discussion over the Pros and cons of Government Grants for Business

As with any major mean of funding there are a number of pros and cons related to various other sources of funding. As a matter of fact, some of the prominent pros and cons of government grants for business are as follows:

The Primary Pros of Grants

No Need to Pay Back- The fact is that different from various other sources of financing, grants actually require no repayment of the rewarded amount. In short, if your business is given a government grant, then it is assumed that your project is enhancing society. Of course, taxes from a successful business and job opportunities for the community are payment enough in the government's eyes.

Oversight- If an individual who is going to give you funds, possibilities are that they will occasionally "remotely" or in person supervise the business from time to time, actually just to see if things are going accurately. I would say that although this is also involved in the cons section, oversight may not be a bad thing. If you are walking on the right track, it helps if someone is watching over you to alert you to mistakes. No matter whether this is a pro or con actually depends completely on management's feelings and attitudes. There are a few who may like the grantor to look over their backs while others may resent it.

The Commonly known Cons of these funding Opportunities

Time-Consuming- Grants take some extra time to be processed and evaluated. Business entrepreneurs might have to wait several months at the least before they receive funding. In fact, sometimes funding might take up to a year. If you really need funding fast, may be some short-term loans or other financing alternatives will be better suited for your business.

Not Easy to Obtain- To be very honest, most of the lines of debt and equity financing will only assess the viability and projected income of the business, actually. However, it is also true that because grants require no repayment, these funding opportunities have additional requirements. Your business must assist the community or society in usual and meet strict requirements of the grantor. And, of course, if grants are not a fit for your business, it is wise to look for other sources of financing.

Oversight- Though it actually depends on the terms, but debt financing has less oversight than equity and grant financing. Well, equity financing leads to a team of those shareholders that hold management accountable. Grantors have stringent/strict requirements that have to be adhered to throughout the course of the grant term. And the most important thing is that the debt financing may be several requirements such as asset to liability ratios but debt financiers are generally content as long as the business of an individual is repaying them the agreed upon amount at the agreed upon time.

Although, on a final note, it seems that the cons outnumber the pros section of the grants, the fact that government grants for business don't require repayment far outweighs the cons; i.e., if you are actually willing to accept some of the requirements that the government wants you to meet.

2018 Facebook Changes Put Community First

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2018 Facebook Changes Put Community First

The Low-Down Facebooks Latest Changes and How They Affect Your Business

No doubt Facebook has dramatically changed how businesses are marketed online. With over 2 billion users Facebook offers exposure to a powerhouse of potential customers.

That's why when Mark Zuckerberg announced some big changes in January, it drew many concerns with business owners on how their posts will have a reduced visibility in their followers newsfeed.

Heres what you need to know and do about these changes:

The focus of the new changes is actually very holistic. Facebook is all about creating community. These changes are an attempt to help users find relevant content and to have more meaningful social interactions.

In a nutshell that means people want to see information from their family and friends. They don't want to be bothered with irrelevant posts from businesses, brands and media.

So how do you deal with Facebook's algorithm changes as a business?

QUALITY
First of all, you need to focus on quality versus quantity of content. Relevance takes on a whole new meaning now. Take time to create really juicy posts your audience can't resist.

Focus on what your ideal target market wants to receive from you. Will they be entertained? Educated? Inspired? Leave everything else out and only focus on those three things.

ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is everything. With every post your goal is to stir up a conversation. Ask for opinions. Get them to share their advice and stories.

Now more than ever you need to develop a tribe of people who love to be connected and can't wait to engage with you. Take advantage of Facebook Live being the hottest trend right now that typically generates a lot of engagement.

AUTHENTICITY
Don't try tricky posts that get people to comment and share on a post. Using tactics like clickbait and sensationalized fake news or other means to try and trick the algorithms are one of the reasons why these changes occurred.

Moreover, engagement bait tactics can get you in trouble. The Facebook algorithm can detect such tactics that try to coerce people to engage.

Instead, have the intention of sharing good content from your heart. Be authentic. Make your posts so amazing that people will naturally want to share them.

MUSIC
Facebook and Universal Music Group signed a deal to allow users to upload songs in videos. This means users can now share videos containing music from UMGs artists without having the videos removed due to copyright violations as they have been in the past.

So now you can we open up creativity, connection and innovation through music as you build your social media community.

In other words, rock out with your peeps! Now you can without copyright infringement by choosing songs by Universal Music Group artists.

In the end, the people who help, entertain, inform, and serve their communities will win. So stop worrying about marketing and focus on serving your fans and followers.

How would you like to learn how to use the power of Social Media and Online Marketing to build your business? Find out more about eVision Media's Social Media & Digital Marketing Academy here. http://www.socialmediagroupcoaching.com/

30 Best Bank Essay Topics

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30 Best Bank Essay Topics

What happens if you are reading a particular essay but due to the boring essay topic you leave it and selects the one which has a more compelling essay topic? No matter how good your bank essay is, if you have selected a boring banking essay topic than obviously you wont be able to fetch good marks for yourself, so it is better that first you should give in a lot of thought before deciding any bank essay topic. Even if you go for a common topic for bank essay, you should craft it in such a style that convinces the reader to keep reading the rest of the banking essay. So, in order to help you cope with the searching issue for good topics on bank essays, we have decided to provide you some compelling essays on banking topics.

List of Best Bank Essay Topics

1. Efficiency of banks
2. Banking laws
3. Introduction to online banking
4. Online accounts management
5. History of online banking
6. Electronic banking
7. Contemporary banking industry
8. Secrecy of banking information
9. Introduction to e-banking
10.Advantages and disadvantages of e-banking
11.Global banking
12.Relation between banking and inflation
13.Commercial banking
14.Growth opportunities in banking
15.Marketing in banking
16.Bank of ICICi
17.Issues in Banking
18.Economy in banking
19.Strategic pricing in retail banking
20.Merits and demerits of commercial banking
21.Banking sector in Hong Kong
22.Crisis management in banking
23.UAE banking
24.Career opportunities in banks
25.USA world bank
26.Mismanagement in banks can result into serious implications
27.International banking.
28.How to pursue a banking career?
29.Mobile banking
30.Responsibilities of managers in banking sector.

Hence, if you think banking essays are boring just like your business studies are, then you are probably wrong here. Banking essays can be real fun to play with if you have a thorough knowledge about the discipline and have keen interest in writing, so if you think you cannot write good banking essays than again you are wrong. All you have to is think for a topic the forces a reader to read the rest of the essay with interest. This is the major responsibility of a banking essay topic that is to force and maintain the interest of the readers till the end. Now, you know how important an essay topic can be, it can literally make or break your essays on banking as a whole.

Therefore, banking essays are not too difficult to deal with; students just start writing without giving in much thought on the essay on banking topics. It is all the game of choosing the right kind of topic for your banking essays and if you are not able to devise a good topic then no matter how much your essay is good, it wont create any worthwhile effect on the reader. Hence, if they choose a good topic for writing essay on bank then they will surely get A+ grade in their exams.

25 Tips To Earn and Save More Money

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25 Tips To Earn and Save More Money

Money is never enough and we often have to spend some extra cash from our savings on unforeseen expenses. See the next tips and take advantage of them to find out that you can be more productive, organized and thrifty person.

Get Your Finances in Order

1. The first and most important step is to make a monthly budget. And find out what are the unnecessary costs you can cut from your monthly expenses.

2. Set a savings goal for the month, the next 6 months or the whole year.

3. Compare some rates online of different providers and make sure you are getting competitive rates for all services like - car, rent, cell services and etc. If you dont want to switch your provider, just call and see if the company can low or change the price for the service and negotiate with him.

4. Plan how to improve your credit score.

5. Set a monthly or yearly goal and calculate how much money you need to save for your retirement.

Some Steps You Need To Follow to Earn More Money

6. Sit back and think about your favorite hobby. Is it possible to turn it into a business? Why not? We live in a dynamic world, open for new ideas! Try!
7. Write down your dreamed business plan.

8. And the logic step after that is to create a checklist of tasks you need to do to put your dreamed business plan into action.

9. Why not start a blog and promote yourself and your ideas?

10. Something very important for every social media geek is to delete or untag every embarrassing photo of himself. Sounds strange but you can avoid your future employer to find it.

11. Start to follow blogs relevant to your hobbies, future business goals or passions.

12. Dont be shy and comment on those blogs and why not to write and e-mail to the blogger to start a conversation. My favorites are those for outdoor gardening, they are beautiful, colorful and extremely useful at the same time. They give me ideas how to maintain my garden without spending a lot.

13. Google your name and see what is the first impression about you online. HINT! If you use Gmail, sign out of your account and see what an ordinary google user sees.

14. Join some of the sites for freelancing to earn more cash.

15. How do you imagine yourself after a year or maybe 5? Write down your professional and personal ideas and goals.

16. Make a vision board. Sounds childish but this is how you will visualize your thoughts.

17. Join LinkedIn and Twitter. You will have access to the latest news in the business and political world in your pocket.

18. Make sure all the information in your LinkedIn is correct, updated and your profile is competitive to the others.

19. And something about your favorite topics and hobbies... find out the best and most popular influencers and follow them on Twitter.

20. Set up your e-mail and start to receive some job alerts from your favorite job boards.

21. Trade for cash by taking some clothes to the consignment store.

22. E-mail or chat with old roommates, classmates, friends or acquaintances to catch up, maybe you will find a new possibility for future work.

23. Update your CV, cover letter and portfolio and be prepared for action in every moment.

24. Search for some old colleagues and managers for future recommendations.

25. Set up your Google alerts for the latest news about the industry you are working in.

Its easy, right? Now, its your turn to act! This is a free investment for your future well-being. All you need is a little time, concentration and the exact words to promote yourself. Im sure you will collect the fruits of your work someday and you will be happy when you achieve the final goal.

17% Swell in College Financial Aid Submissions Hints at Economy's Effect on Families

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17% Swell in College Financial Aid Submissions Hints at Economy's Effect on Families

More families are appealing to the federal government for help this year in paying for college, as parents face a shrinking job market, record-high food and gas prices, and tightened borrowing restrictions that have grown out of the current credit crisis.

Submissions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are up 17 percent this year, according to a recent report released by the U.S. Department of Education. Never before has the Education Department been bombarded with so many FAFSA submissions, totaling 9 million for the 200809 school year 1.3 million more than last year, even though only 300,000 new students are expected to enter the higher education system this fall.

The students who have traditionally relied on federal student loans to pay for college are being joined, say financial aid experts, by over a million additional students whose families have previously been able to pay for school on their own but are now in need of federal financial support.

What we are seeing is more people filling out requests for financial aid, said Richard Toomey, associated vice provost at Santa Clara University. Students who havent needed assistance before are coming in.

As Economy Hits Student Loan Lenders, Schools Turn to Federal Government

Typically, in the summer months before school starts, student loan providers would be saturated with potential borrowers shopping for federal and private student loans. This year, in particular, with the economy in a downturn and unemployment as its highest level in five years, lenders would expect to be processing a larger-than average volume of student loan applications for the growing number of families in need of financial assistance  that is, if the lenders werent being affected by the sinking economy themselves.

Caught in the ongoing credit squeeze, a number of lenders of non-federal, credit-based private student loans have been forced to suspend their private student loan programs.

And lenders of federal college loans arent faring much better.

Last fall, Congress passed federal legislation that cut over $21 billion in federal subsidies to lenders in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, rendering the government-backed parent and student loans made through these third-party FFELP lenders essentially unprofitable. Compounding these lenders sudden loss of government subsidies are the general troubles in the student loan credit markets, part of the far-reaching aftershocks of the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Many of the non-bank FFELP lenders secure the capital they need to make new federal college loans by packaging and selling their student loan portfolios in the secondary market. But investors, still skittish after the collapse of the subprime and Alt-A credit markets and wary of any kind of defaults in the face of spiraling foreclosure rates in the housing sector, have stopped buying packaged student loans. Without buyers for their federal student loan portfolios, FFELP lenders arent able to generate the liquidity necessary to fund any new federal parent or student loans.

Even after the government passed emergency legislation in May in the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act that would allow the Department of Education to purchase federal student loan portfolios from FFELP lenders as a means of providing these lenders with the capital they need to originate new student loans, FFELP lenders have simply been unable to come up with the money they would need to fund an initial portfolio they could sell to the government.

Cash-strapped and in a liquidity crunch, over 100 FFELP lenders to date have suspended their federal student loan programs, leaving hundreds of thousands of students and parents looking for a new lender for their federal college loans.

Fearing the increasing instability of the FFEL program, nearly 300 colleges and universities so far this year have already applied to join the more than 4,600 schools enrolled in the Education Departments Direct Loan Program, through which students receive their federal parent and college loans directly from the government rather than through a third-party FFELP lender. In a recent survey conducted by Student Lending Analytics, 40 percent of college administrators said they were contemplating the switch from the FFEL program to the Direct Loan Program as well.

Private Student Loans Harder to Come By

Many families who have relied on private student loans to supplement their federal grants and college loans are also on the search for new lenders as providers of non-federal private student loans face the same liquidity crunch as FFELP lenders.

Those private loan providers that havent yet suspended their private student loan programs have been forced to tighten their credit requirements in response to investor concerns.

Under these more restrictive credit criteria, the majority of college students, who typically have little or no established credit history, will likely not be able to qualify for a private student loan without a co-signer. And with foreclosures rising and families struggling to pay their bills, a students parents or other family may not qualify as co-signers either. Whereas last year, a student or co-signer with a credit score of 620 might have met the minimum credit-score requirement for a private student loan, many lenders are currently accepting only minimum scores of 700 or higher. The average national credit score, according to Experian, is 694.

The stricter credit criteria and growing scarcity of private student loan lenders are already having a dramatic impact on the number of students who will be able to rely on private student loans to help them pay for college this semester particularly those low-income students who may need the most financial assistance but are the least likely to qualify under more stringent credit and income requirements.

At community colleges and career-training schools, for example, where lower tuition costs are particularly attractive to low- and middle-income families, only 25 to 35 percent of the students have been approved for private student loans this year, according to Harris Miller, president of the Career College Association, compared to the 75 to 80 percent that qualified last year.

11 Easy Ways to Handle Stress

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11 Easy Ways to Handle Stress

One of the most singificant problems human beings face as a general population is how to handle stress. As a life & career expert, and an acclaimed advice columnist, I have compiled eleven of the most significant ways that you can reduce stress in your life. You may not always be able to make stress dissappear, but you can manage it with some very simple techniques.

1. Talk! Don't hold all your feelings within! Discuss your stressful feelings with someone you trust who will listen without being judgmental or pressuring you to their own point of view. Even if you can't change the immediate situation, talking about it helps alleviate some of the tension you may be feeling. Supplement the verbalizing with something physical: write it out, exercise or hit a pillow.

2. ACT! Be willing to take risk and make change, no matter how small. Try to change the stressful situation, or at least some part of it. Moving forward in small ways helps you feel empowered and in control. Put one foot in front of the other to move in a positive direction. Soon, the stress will lessen.

3. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! If you learn about how your body reacts to stress, you can also learn how to counter that stress. Learn to listen to your body's signals and find ways to reduce your stress, even if it's just "taking five" to clear your mind. Relaxation exercises (E.g. Yoga, meditation, physical exercise) help, too.

4. BE IN CHARGE! Discover what you need to feel good about yourself and get your needs met. Another way to reduce your stress is to find an interest, hobby or activity where you feel in charge and call the shots. If you really feel out of control, don't stay silent and alone! Seek guidance from someone who is qualified to help you get through the obstacles, and move forward again. If you can't find someone qualified in your neighborhood or you don't feel as though you can talk to someone "in person" try a qualified internet counselor. If you would like to talk to ME (Advice Sister Alison) you can find information at http://www.advicesisters.net/getpersonaladvice3.html

5. DON'T OVERWHELM YOURSELF: If you are stressed and overwhelmed, perhaps you are trying to handle too much. Rid yourself of extra duties that aren't necessary or important. Learn how to delegate and how to say "no" without feeling guilty. Ask for help if you need it.

6. GET AWAY: Sometimes a change, however small, can do wonders for your spirit. Forget it all for a while--escape! Go somewhere new for a few hours, or a few days if you can afford to. If not, it may be helpful just to "get away" to a warm bath for a little while! A good article on how to create an easy spa experience at home is at: http://www.advicesisters.net/WWarchives/wwarcspa3.html

7. PRIORITIZE: You may not be able to avoid all the responsibilities obligations you currently have, but you can learn how to complete them without resentment and consciously choose how you will handle them.

8. EXTEND YOURSELF: Make your own life better by making someone else's life better. Give of yourself. Volunteer! You will feel empowered, positive, important...and you will be! Visit http://www.volunteermatch.com and choose an organization you believe in!

9. MAKE SUCCESS HAPPEN! If you can't change the world, change yourself! Learn how to love yourself as you are, while you work towards your goals. Then, make a commitment to yourself to start improving the things about yourself and your life that (you believe) need it. Instead of immediate, dramatic change, learn to enjoy the journey of lifelong self-improvement. You are always a work in progress. For life & career advice, visit ASK ALISON - Managing Your Life & Career at: http://www.metrotribe.org/askalison.html for love and relationship advice, visit THE ADVICE SISTERS Relationship Tools For Winners Web Site http://www.advicesisters.net/

10. SOCIALIZE: Spend time with family and friends for love and support. Don't be afraid to enjoy yourself! Appreciate friendship and let others know you care about them, too. Love may not conquer all, but it's a great start!

11. LEARN HOW TO BE HAPPY: One thing all of life's winners have in common is a sense of well-being, a positive attitude and realistic goals. Focus on the good things about yourself, and in your life. Nobody's perfect. Learn to enjoy the "little things" that make you happy. Count your blessings. Every day, write down on a slip of paper one thing you are grateful for, even if it's just a sunny day, a friend's phone call, your cat's happy purr. Put this "blessing" in a jar along with a dollar or more. Do this for one month. At the end of the month read all those slips of paper and you will realize that life is better than you think! Use the money to do something really special for yourself, or donate it to charity.

Copyright 2002 all rights reserved by THE ADVICE SISTERS The Advice Sisters is a registered United States trademark. No portion of this article may be copied or used in any without written permission of THE ADVICE SISTERS. For permissions, suggestions or comments: E-Mail : advicesisters@advicesisters.net

10 Strategies To Increase Your Credit Score In 24 Hours

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10 Strategies To Increase Your Credit Score In 24 Hours

When you are in a hurry to increase your credit score there is 10 things that you can do with in 24 hours that help immensley. Here are the 10 things to increase your score:

1. Order your credit reports online for each of the top three credit reporting agencies individually. Even though it may be cheaper to order a three in one report offered by one of the Agencies, ordering individual credit reports will grant you the access to initiate a dispute online with each agency. You can't improve your score in 24 hours unless you know what it is! Knowing where to start is important.

2. Call your credit card companies and request to increase your credit lines. Increasing credit lines will improve your outstanding debt to-available-credit ratio amounts on your revolving accounts, and can improve your credit by as much as 60 points.

3. Rearrange your debt so that every one of your credit cards have the lowest possible outstanding debt-to-available-credit ratio. A ratio of 25%-35% is ideal.

4. If you have the ability, pay down the cards until that ratio is recognized on your credit report.

5. Borrow money to pay down your debts referenced on your credit reports from a lender that doesn't report, such as friends and family. Unreported debts will assist you to decrease those debt to available credit ratios and boost your score. Your private lenders may even want lesser interest than you are paying on the cards! While this business deal doesn't appear on your credit report, it's still debt, so use it wisely. You don't want horrible Thanksgiving dinners after failure to pay on a loan made by a family relative.

6. If you have freshly paid down or paid off debts and they don't show corrected on the report, fax that information to the credit agencies. Providing them with the verification of payoff is much faster then initiating a dispute of the account information. In many cases, the agency won't verify the payoff with the lender, and accept your proof as correct.

7. Begin your dispute approach online with each service. The online dispute will suspend the negative derogatory items from your credit report for the short term, increasing your score. When the dispute is resolved your score will change accordingly, but for the period in-between you get a momentary reprieve from the effects of the negative derogatory information.

8. If you must choose one credit score to work on, spotlight your focus on the middle score. For most major purchases such as real estate or a vehicle, the lender will pull all three credit scores and use the middle score, (all three scores in one is called the tri-merge score) so this is the one that matters the most. If you improve your middle score over your highest score, the formerly top score is the one that now matters most.

9. Have a close friend or family member with a solid credit history add you to their card. You don't even need to have the possession of an actual card, but by adding you to the account, you get the benefit of their long credit history. This doesn't hurt their credit history at all. A Credit report is a compilation of accounts with your social security number attached to them. When your social security number was added to their account, you agreed to be responsible for it, and their years of good credit history now show up on your credit report. The individual person who lent you their excellent credit didn't add their social security number to any of your accounts with the negative or derogatory history, so there is no way for the bad information to appear on their credit report.

10. If you have recent collection account reporting to your credit file that haven't been paid? If so call the collection agency and ask, "do you delete?" About half of all collection agencies will take away the item from your credit report if you pay it in full, or a generous portion of the debt. Sometimes the collection agency can remove the debt from the credit bureaus instantaneously.

There are other things that can help you improve your credit score that will take much longer to implement. I think this list will suffice for now because these things can be done in 24 hours.

10 Secrets to Better Android Battery Life

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10 Secrets to Better Android Battery Life

Android devices are used to perform range and variety of services. They are used to perform basic tasks like making calls and sending messages to using advanced apps and playing games. All these functions consume a lot of device battery and consume significant device resources. It also creates battery drain problem for the user. To deal with it, you can follow certain steps to extend your devices battery life. Lets discuss some of these steps here.

Turn off Wi-Fi: Leaving Wi-Fi radio ON all the time consumes lot of system resources. When you keep your Wi-Fi on it keeps sniffing out networks nearby, even when you dont require it. Toggle Wi-Fi off when you are going outside or you dont intend to use it for some time. You can create a widget for easy access to Wi-Fi if you are a frequent user.

Turn off Bluetooth: With your extensive activities on a device like using Wi-Fi with your hands-free headset or with wireless speaker or activity tracker, all this consume a lot of system resources. It's fine when you are using it actively but its also advisable to keep Bluetooth radio turn-off when not in use to save device battery.

Keep the screen timeout short: You can save a lot of your battery consumption by applying this simple step. Go to device Settings to find Screen Timeout option. Set your devices screen timeout shortest so that you can save some device resources. Alternatively, you can press the power button to instantly turn off your screen.

Manage device brightness: Your mobile display may look better with more brightness but it consumes a lot of battery. Screen brightness consumes battery life at a devastating pace more than any other component of your smartphone. Keep the screen brightness dim or set it on auto brightness mode.

Manage location services and GPS: When your device keeps on monitoring your location using GPS, Wi-Fi or mobile data it consumes a lot of device resources. Allowing apps to integrate with your location, SD card, the camera may prove convenient but is not necessary at all. You can turn off location services when not required.

Turn off apps running in the background: There are a lot of apps and programs which run in the background and consume phones processor cycles without your knowledge. To close these apps running in the background go to Settings > Application Manager > Running Apps and close them instantly by pressing Stop button.

Avert Vibration: Vibration on your device consumes more power than a simple ringtone for call or message alert. Ringtone requires making a small membrane in your devices speaker enough to produce sound whereas vibration motor rotates a small weight to make your whole device shake. This process takes a lot more power. If you are not getting disturbed audibly prefer ringtone to vibration alone.

Turn off non-essential notifications: Every new notification turns on your screen and consumes certain device resources. Turn off all unnecessary notifications to help your device battery last a little longer and to avert pointless distraction.

Power-saving mode: Power saving mode on any device helps device last long by few hours sometimes. It will stop all battery draining services immediately. It is a most effective tool available within the device to extend battery life.

Avert live wallpapers: Live wallpapers may look beautiful aesthetically but it consumes a lot of battery power. Live wallpapers get activated every time you on your screen. This way it drains the battery a lot. Turn off all live wallpapers to save some battery.

You can apply these simple steps to extend your battery life significantly. These steps alone may not prove effective but once applied multiple or altogether can create the difference. 

Other than these steps you can also use Android Battery Saver apps as well to boost your battery life.