Category: Capital Investment

Finance Executive, John Sykstus Lists Five Reasons Your Business Needs to Invest in an ERP System

Capital Investment

So, what exactly is an ERP? Good question! An ERP is a type of business software known as Enterprise Resource Planning. This type of system is an invaluable resource that can be implemented in various industries to improve accuracy and streamline many of the day to day tasks that businesses and employees are faced with. In today’s world, it can be tricky to determine if the latest in software is worth the investment or if it will be beneficial for your business on a long-term basis. By understanding the numerous advantages associated with ERP systems, you can determine if it is a worthy investment for your company. Below, John Sykstus, a financial strategist with 25 years of experience helping businesses realize growth potential, lists 5 reasons why your business needs to invest in an ERP system:

Finance Executive, John Sykstus Lists Five Reasons Your Business Needs to Invest in an ERP System

1. Improve Company Wide Collaboration

Tired of waiting for information from inventory to make its way to accounting? With an ERP in place, all this crucial information is available to those who need it at any time. The ERP system calculates and displays data in real time, which means that everyone is on the same page. This allows managers to make informed decisions and eliminates any mistakes as the result of miscommunication between departments or human error during data entry.

2. Evaluate Your Company’s Strengths and Weaknesses Quickly

Aside from increased collaboration, having access to company data in real-time allows senior management and business owners to identify any problem areas quickly. Instead of evaluating the overall health of your business quarterly, you can check in on every aspect, from expenses to accounts payable information, as often as necessary. This helps you see your strong points and address any areas of concern before they become a significant problem.

3.  Improve Marketing Efforts

An Enterprise Resource Planning system allows you to track your customers or clients from the start of their exploration with your product or service all the way to a purchase. This is valuable information that can improve your marketing campaigns and, in turn, your return on investment (or ROI). This type of information on your clientele also proves to be helpful when tackling customer service issues, as it allows your customer service representatives to have a better understanding of each client.

4. Free Up Employees for Other Tasks

Just imagine how much your employees could get done if they were able to eliminate tasks like data entry. An ERP intuitively calculates data related to your business without the need for employees to spend hours entering tedious figures into the system. In turn, employees are free to focus on other responsibilities. This can improve their productivity and eliminate any common mistakes that are made during data entry.

5. Protect Valuable Company Data

Instead of utilizing several different platforms with varying degrees of security or trying to merge information from each source, an ERP system combines all your data into one highly secure system. This drastically reduces the risk of a security breach, since …

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IdeaPros Explores the Benefits and Drawbacks of Starting a Business While Working a Full-Time Job

Capital Investment

Starting your own business is an enticing prospect; it enables you to have flexibility and control over when, how, and with whom you work. The ability to be your own boss and hold your working life in your own hands is a great feeling. However, being self-employed is a risky prospect, which is why many people start businesses while remaining in their full-time jobs. IdeaPros, a firm composed of veteran business executives, examines the pros and cons and the questions that come to mind: How does this work in real life? What are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach? 

IdeaPros Explores the Benefits and Drawbacks of Starting a Business While Working a Full-Time Job

Benefits 

There are some excellent benefits to maintaining your full-time job while trying to start your business, including:

Peace of mind

Perhaps the number-one reason that people stay in employment while starting their own business is financial security. If anything should go wrong in your business, it is good to know that you have a safety net and stable income to protect you and your standard of living. Having a job can also be beneficial from a networking perspective, as your employer can sometimes help introduce you to potential business contacts. However, you should always be careful not to cross any ethical or legal lines if you are going to be working on your business during work hours on your regular job. 

Develop new skills

Running a business while working elsewhere forces you to practice time management, project management, and due diligence. These are valuable skills which are transferable to many different jobs and industries. Even if your business does not take off, being able to demonstrate to a future employer or investor that you managed to develop a business while working another job will put you in good stead. 

Drawbacks

Despite the benefits of keeping your job while developing your business, there are also some drawbacks that you will need to consider, such as:

Time investment 

Running a business takes time — and a lot of it. Time can be a scarce resource, especially if you are putting in 40-plus hours a week for your employer. You will likely have to work on your business during your nights and weekends. If you are not careful, this can have a negative impact on both your health (fatigue) and social life (friends and family). If you do not have the appropriate time to invest in your business, then you may be less motivated to work on it. This apathy could lead to your business failing very early on in the process. Michael Corradini, CEO & Co-Founder of IdeaPros, empathizes with the importance time has on new entrepreneurs, as he stated, “You only have so much time in a given day and you should make the most of it without losing your health in the process.”

Impacts on your job

Building a startup may also have a negative impact on your current place of employment. If you find yourself distracted with business ideas, or even conducting business-work at your job (which …

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George Campolo, Award Winning Associate Real Estate Broker, Shares 4 Serious Financial Mistakes That Can Stall the Home-Buying Process

Capital Investment

George Campolo, Award Winning Associate Real Estate Broker, Shares 4 Serious Financial Mistakes That Can Stall the Home-Buying ProcessSo, you’ve found your dream home at a great price. You’ve lined up your mortgage with a pre-approval, and it looks like your home-buying journey is nearly over. However, it’s a mistake to think you’re in the clear.

Until the purchase is completed and all the documents are exchanged, it’s still possible for plenty to go wrong. Some of the risks are out of your control, but here are four financial mistakes that George Campolo, a winner of the 2016 & 2017 RE/MAX NY Region Executive Club Award, suggests you avoid if you want your new home purchase to go without a hitch.

1) Applying for Credit

From the time you apply for your mortgage, until it is paid out to the seller and the closing is over, DO NOT apply for any new sources of credit. Getting a new credit card or buying a car could potentially change your credit score enough to disqualify you from your mortgage approval.

At best it could cause delays while your application is reevaluated, at worst, NO loan, NO new house.  Remember, a mortgage pre-approval is only an offer in principle. It’s not a cast-iron guarantee that you’ll receive the loan no matter what else happens along the way. The lender will run your credit in the beginning of the process to issue your preapproval, but did you know that the lender will run your credit again a day or two before you close?  ANY change could blow up your purchase. That includes CO-SIGNING a loan for a friend or relative. DON’T do it! You can do whatever you want AFTER the closing when you have the keys in your hand, but NOT in between the application and the closing. You can wait for that new car another 90 days if you have to.

2) Cleaning Up Your Finances

It’s not just applying for new credit lines that can disrupt your credit rating. You might see moving as an ideal opportunity to tidy up your finances by closing old accounts that you no longer use.

While this sounds sensible in theory, it can actually lower your credit score significantly. Closing accounts could put your credit utilization over the level your mortgage lender is comfortable with. Once you’ve gained your pre-approval, hold tight on altering any aspect of your credit situation to avoid unforeseen consequences. A good loan originator can look at your credit profile and advise you as to what and what NOT to do.

3) Changing Jobs

Similarly, changing jobs during the buying process can create enough uncertainty to worry your mortgage lender and have them reject your loan application. Lenders like to see lengthy, continuous employment, preferably with the same company. There’s always a chance a new job won’t work out, leaving you unemployed and unable to pay your mortgage. It’s worst when you change jobs AND your field of employment. A promotion within the same company or even a switch from say one law firm to another might …

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An Overview of Financiers of Hard Money

Capital Investment

When looking to invest in real estate, you will often need to finance the properties that you are looking to acquire. Fortunately for investors, there are many lending options that they can choose from. One of the financing options available to investors is hard money loans. There are loans that provide investors with a way to borrow money without using traditional mortgage lenders. Hard money loans are usually funded by an investor or a group of investors. With hard money lenders, investors who are looking for immediate financing that they can pay off quickly will benefit from most when looking to invest in real estate.

An Overview of Financiers of Hard Money

Terms

Like all other types of real estate financing, there are terms that come with hard money loans. Whenever you are looking to get a hard money loan, it will be important to consider the fact that these are short term loans. This means that you will likely be expected to pay back the loan within six months. In most cases, you will want to use a hard money loan when you are looking to buy a property and then sell it within 30 days. As a result, you will be in position to pay it off in a timelier manner.

Interest Rate

One of the most important things that you will need to consider when seeking a hard money loan is the interest rate. Hard money loans are usually offered with double digit interest rates. As a result, you will likely be paying more per month compared to a more traditional loan. Since the interest rate is quite high, these loans are ideal for situations where you are not looking to keep a property for very long.

Advantages

With hard money loans, there are several advantages that will benefit investors. A hard money loan will provide you with immediate financing. If you are looking to get funding for a property within a matter of days, a hard money loan will be an ideal option for you. Another advantage of hard money loan is that you can get approval more easily compared to traditional mortgage lenders. A hard money loan can also offer you flexibility as you will be able to negotiate payment plans on a regular basis. With these advantages, hard money loans are a good option for investors who need capital for short term projects.

Disadvantages

As well as having advantages, hard money loans also have disadvantages too. With a hard money loan, you will likely be paying an interest rate that is much higher than conventional mortgages. Another disadvantage with hard money loans is that you will usually need to pledge collateral for the loan. This means that you may need to put one of your assets up for seizure in case you cannot pay the loan back.

Financing real estate is often a necessity for anyone looking to buy or invest in it. Since, you will need to get financing, it will be important to find an option that …

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Why Buy Platinum Bullion

Capital Investment

Investing in precious metals has proved a rewarding way to maximise the potential of savings. Like other investments prices of precious metals can go down as well as up.

Why Buy Platinum Bullion

Availability

Like silver and gold, platinum has to be mined from the earth. There is less platinum out there to be mined than there is gold and silver. This makes it harder to find and extract, pushing the price of platinum up. Historically platinum has sat at the top of the tree of precious metals. Rings using platinum for settings have been more expensive than gold, it has industrial uses (for example in catalytic converters in motor vehicles) and we still rate platinum credit cards above gold.

Unfortunately platinum’s price has not remained as high as one would expect.

Rumour and speculation can affect the price of platinum and one that circulated recently was that the Chinese were going to mine asteroids for platinum! It’s easy to see that such a scheme isn’t going to come to fruition any time soon …

Supply and demand

Platinum has a range of industrial applications and this is one factor that has helped keep prices high. When demand for platinum in such applications falls, so does the price. The price of platinum is therefore directly linked to the ups and downs of the global economy. Just as demand can fall, it can also rise again, which is a clear indicator of the need for potential investors to keep a close watch on movement within the market.

Those who talk about a surplus of platinum will need to catch up on latest predictions for 2018. The World Platinum Investment Council has stated that production was up, and demand down in 2017 but production is set to fall during 2018 during which demand is likely to rise. This perfectly illustrates the ways in which the market and production are linked and can affect prices.

The jewellery market

A reflection of the way in which platinum is viewed is its use and prevalence within the jewellery market. This also rises and falls, but growth is predicted in platinum’s use in jewellery for 2018.

Summary

Platinum has become cheaper than gold and palladium. The fact that prices have dropped in recent years make it a cheaper investment which may well see a rise in emand and value, making it a potentially renewed good prospect for investment. For advice consult a company such as  Indigo Precious Metals .…

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