Small Business Startup Funding

By Jebb Bruce

Do you have an idea that will be good to start a small business but just dont have enough startup funding to make it come true? Startup funding is usually the hurdle that will either break your dreams or make it come true. So let me share with you what you will need to get a startup funding and some options on where to get one.

Some businessmen are so engross with their dream of having a business that they do not pay close attention to academic aspect of their dreams. No matter how small or big your business is you will need a certain amount of startup funding to help you make it successful. So do come down from your dream cloud to the reality to having a successful business.

An important fact about lending institutions is that they will not grant a 100% startup funding. You will have to shoulder at least 20-30% of the capital investment. So be prepared to have this ready when you apply for any startup funding.

So how will you get the remaining startup funding? Before going to any institution and ask for a loan, spend time to think through what you will need and how you plan to get it. Remember that this must be a realistic plan. So invest enough time and effort to do a research on how much things really cost and what you really need.

Lending institutions will base their decisions to grant you a startup funding based on your realistic plan. They will most likely look into why you need it and how you plan to pay them instead of looking at how much you plan to loan. This is also why youre realistic and detailed plan must be put into writing.

After making sure that your business plan is realistic, have been well thought out and put into writing. Then you are ready to look for an institution that will best fit your business needs. You can make you research either online, at your local library or by consulting businessmen like you.

You will realize when you are doing your research that there are different institutions available. They will range from your local banks, credit card companies, government funding, private companies, venture capitalists and private individuals. Spend time to look into each of these types for you to know which one will best fit your startup funding needs.

It may seem stressful at the beginning but in the long run having a well planned business plan will not only be beneficial in getting a startup funding but also a successful business. - 23309

About the Author:

What you just learned about startup funding is just the beginning. To get the full story and all the details, check us out at startup funding

What Makes a Successful Real Estate Investor?

By Julie Broad

Sometimes a search through your bookshelf is like a treasure hunt. As I plucked Stephen Covey's 1989 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People from my shelf, I believe I found some long lost gold. Flipping through the yellowed pages, I soaked in some of the long forgotten golden nuggets the book contains, and I pondered what the seven habits of a highly effective real estate investor would be.

After some thought, I realized that a successful real estate investor is not a special breed; I personally believe that anyone could become one if they really wanted to. However, they would need to practice these seven habits:

Habit One: Know Your Goals

Most of the real estate investors I know set out with a goal. Someone I know started off simply by selling his home to buy two lots side by side and built an 8 unit townhouse complex. He has turned that project into a company that sells and builds hundreds of homes in Toronto every year. Some goals are simple, but lead to big things. Other goals are big and have to be broken down into simpler shorter term goals.

Habit Two: Make Your Money when you Buy

You should never pay over market value for a property just because you think that the area will improve in the future, thereby increasing the value of your property and allowing you to charge higher rent. The best formula for success in the long run when it comes to real estate investing is to purchase a property below market value in an area that has loads of potential for future growth.

Habit Three: Hire Help

Unless you plan to handle everything involved with the ongoing maintenance of a property, you should plan to hire a property manager. You may also want to hire an accountant to do the bookkeeping and the taxes related to your real estate investments. Additionally, a real estate agent is also someone you will want to find to help you in your ongoing quest to find properties to purchase. It shouldn't be hard to find one that will understand your goals and will work with you to achieve them.

Habit Four: Use Just the Right Amount of Leverage

Serious real estate investors use leverage to get what they want. If you keep buying property with cash every single time, even the richest person in the world will soon run out of money. Leverage is when you invest a small amount on a much bigger amount. In other words, it's possible to put $10,000 down on $100,000 house. If that house makes $5,000 a year, then you ROI ( return on investment) would be 50%. If you had paid for the whole $100,000 up front, then the return would still only be 5%. However, the downside of putting a small amount down is that it does not protect you from fluctuations in the market. If that same house drops to $90,000, you can wind up owing more on that home than the property is worth.

Habit Five: Find Good Partners

I love the success stories where someone with nothing but big dreams and a lot of initiative ties up one or more properties with contracts. They had little to no money, so while they had the properties under contract, they went out and found people who did. If you aren't starting out with a big bucket of cash, it's tough to make millions in real estate if you aren't willing to partner with others. Your partner might be a family member, a friend, a colleague, a company or even someone you haven't met yet. We are millionaires from our real estate investing thanks to a couple of great partners that contributed equity to our investments along the way. We would likely only half of what we own now without them.

Habit Six: Be Persistent

When starting out in real estate (or even when you're established) you're going to hear the word "no" a lot, so make sure you don't stray from your goals. Some of the people you could hear "no" from are as follows:

- Potential partners not wanting to get involved in a deal we've invited them into,

- The banks - on just about every deal we had trouble getting financing and had to deal with multiple lending issues,

- Family - sometimes we try the bank of parents and we almost always get rejected but we still try because the interest rates are so favourable,

- Insurance companies - so few companies want to deal with out of province landlords and it seems like we've been turned down by nearly every company in Ontario where some of our properties are located (we live in British Columbia),

- Property Managers - sometimes the company you want to hire doesn't want to manage the property you own.

But even when we've been turned down by all of the above at some point or another, we don't lose sight of our goals and keep pushing forward.

Habit Seven: Research - Always be learning

- The best investors are the ones that ask a lot of questions, keep their eyes open for new opportunities and do a lot of research. Many get right into the details of a city. They go to the municipal offices and pull the official plan. They get zoning details and applications. They talk to the city councilors about plans, they attend city council meetings and know everything that is happening in an area.

Not every good investor I know possesses every one of these habits. And I know there are habits that many good investors have that I haven't covered. But as I thought about the most effective and successful investors that I have met or read about, I realized that almost all of them did possess each of the above habits. And, that anyone could really do what they did if they set out to establish these habits and practices in their real estate investing. - 23309

About the Author:

Learn How to Retire a rich real estate investor with Julie's free Real Estate Investing Starter Tips Guide. Learn how to create financial freedom, positive cashflow and massive wealth with tips like: How to find quality rental properties, finding and keeping great tenants, and easy ways to make rental property recordkeeping simple and more profitable.

Evaluating Forex Accounts: Mini vs Demo

By Brad Morgan

The standard Forex account has a petite version referred to as a Mini account. The minimum amount compulsory for starting an account is $2000 for the standard account. Conversely, the minimum for a mini account is barely $400.

With regards to trading lots, "mini lots" is the tag used for Mini accounts. For a Standard FX account, the pip value is $10 meaning if the market moves fortunately for you in say 100 pips then you would make $1000. The Mini account has a much petite pip which is $1 so you simply get $100 from a advantageous movement of 100 pips.

Should you want a tinier account, there is the "Micro account". For only $25, you can commence such an account. Here you profit $10 if the market moves favorably by 100 pips.

For those merely testing the waters, the smaller brother mini accounts would be optimal. While there are demo accounts at hand that do not need money to commence, these mini accounts have beneficial characteristics.

This value comes from the fact that mini accounts use real money to deal. Using real money for trading tends to accomplish a closer match with your ulterior trading behavior with standard Forex accounts.

At last, you risk nothing with a demo account. Hence this play money is not really traded resolutely. As a result,the gifted traders using demo accounts lose horribly when transacting a standard account with actual money.

Your task when trading your Forex mini account is to approximately imitate what you will do when you move up to a standard account. You will have a chance to put your trading plans to the test and at the same time having a meager amount of money on the table.

On your part, to make the mini account effacious, bestow the same regard and management of risks that are used in the standard account. The end result would be successful FX trading by engaging the befitting discipline levels.

When you are prosperously able to trade your Forex mini account you can then step into a standard account with poise. - 23309

About the Author:

Forex trading requires a forex introduction. Forex markets move quickly, get forex trading training to keep on top of it.

How To Trade Money And Currency In The Current Economy

By Jaimie K. Bernardo

Trading with money and currency in the financial market is known as forex. Fluctuation in prices between the currencies of different countries has started the concept of trading with currencies. One can trade with currency like one does in trading with stocks, commodities and options to earn money. The advent of computer and the technology of internet have magnified the process of how to trade money and currency.

Using internet one can get good deal of information to learn the necessary skills required in this segment of trade. Forex have resulted in an average of more than three trillion dollars trading on a daily basis all over the world. More over its popularity is increasing day by day and is offering a good deal of opportunity to people interested in currency trade.

The process of getting started with trading currencies is very simple. You need to sign up with a forex broker which can be done online. The existence of technical indicators helps even a novice to make some money in the forex market no matter what level of skills one is possessing.

Chart patterns first indicate about the one you can take the advantage. Your ideas gets stronger with the knowledge of patterns and you know how to move. The breakout spots are also disclosed by patterns and you can definitely take advantage of that. Larger trend and an opportunity to earn larger profits can be optimized by understanding these patterns and break outs.

There is an easier way fortunately for those whose do not want to spend their time in analyzing the charts. In the age of computers, it can help you in a better way than you can actually do. Now for trading currencies automated computer program software called robots are available that will watch your currency charts for you and using advanced algorithmic rules will trade for you as per the movement in the market.

The software forex robot doenot cost very much compared than a course that would teach you to trade yourself. You can try it out on a demo account first where the brokers will send you visual tutorials and can also take the advantage of the free information available. Be sure to be on the right track to know how it works before you use your hard earned money.

Our emotional feelings sometimes obstruct us in logical thinking and taking the right decision which can reflect in our trading activities. But exceptions are always there who can trade in a better way. Better will be if we take the aid of a computer which will cater with our expectations as they are already using an established dealing scheme.

A surprising fact is that out of every10 person 6 people lose money in the currency market and the remaining earns in millions per annum. What is that factor which creates this difference between winning 40 percent and losing 60 percent in this big deal of game must be looked into. Before one starts trading in forex one needs to learn the skills of forex trading. It is not a game for the new entrant and one need to review the required skills and experience before getting into the trade. - 23309

About the Author:

Are you trying to figure out how to trade money? Trading in currency is one of the most lucrative, however complex, methods of making money in the world. Our guide on how to trade in currency is one of the best to help get you started.

Why Investing Online Is The Way Of The Future

By Julie T Anderson

A growing number of consumers are turning to the Internet to invest their money online. The benefits are many: Online investing is quick and easy. Consumers can do it from their own homes. And the commissions that online brokerage houses charge are relatively minor.

Several online brokers dot the Internet today. They offer consumers the chance to quickly open accounts and begin investing their money in the stock market. Most charge low commissions. And most sites are easy to use.

The reason for this is simple: When you invest money online, you never really know with whom you're working. The person behind that other computer screen can be anyone. If that bothers you, it might be time to return to traditional investing.

You can ease any concerns you have with investing money online by doing some simple research. The best place to start is with the financial press. Financial print magazines and Web sites often contain rankings of the top online brokerage houses. Working with a top-ranked online broker can help ratchet up your comfort level.

But investing your money online does come with its own risks. When you invest money through an online brokerage, you aren't meeting in person with a stockbroker. You aren't even talking to a broker over the phone. You have no idea who is behind that online home page.

Next, make sure you only work with well-known, established online brokers. Some of the biggest include Zecco, Etrade and Scottrade. These firms have already succeeded. They've already ironed out any customer-service kinks they may have. You can feel more confident if you're working with an established, well-respected online brokerage.

Once you select a group of online brokerage houses that can be trusted, look into the commissions each one charges. You want to work with an online broker that doesn't charge exorbitant fees for transactions. Remember, these fees can significantly eat into your profits.

Next, be sure to research the companies and businesses in which you want to invest. The easiest way to make a poor investment is to sink your dollars into companies about which you know little. Do your research before making any trade. The more information about a company and its stock performance, the more likely you are to see your online investment grow.

That doesn't mean, though, that you should invest money online without first doing the proper research. Do your homework to make sure you are investing with an online brokerage you can trust. And don't invest in any company's stocks until you first research both the company and the industry in which it does business. - 23309

About the Author:

Spare Dollars is a save money blog which contains information on how to save money, how to make money and investing money. For more information on these topics, including how to invest money online, check out our site today at SpareDollars.com.