2011 will be the first year on record that business owners who use PayPal to process payments will have their own tax forms from PayPal.
The rules as passed require PayPal account owners to file another form to claim their online income on their taxes. This change came as part of the 2011 1099 changes, which require far more tax compliance work for small business owners.
There seems to be a surge in interest surrounding pawn shops. On TV, two popular shows, Hardcore Pawn and the Pawn Stars reality shows expose a new business model to otherwise disinterested audiences.
But how can you start a pawn shop business to tap into the growth? We set out to answer this question.
Pawn shops make money in two ways: Read more…
A Facebook IPO is in the works.
As the company prepares to go public it’s boosting its operations to prepare for life as a public company.
According to Forbes, the company is beefing up staff in its advertising departments in New York, presumably to lock in more valuable advertising contracts (and earnings) before a big IPO on Wall Street.
Facebook 2011 Earnings Read more…
Readers of this blog know that interest rates have been low—perhaps too low—for a very long time. Now that rates seem to have bottomed (how much lower can rates go, anyway?) investors should look into interest rate hedging strategies to boost their performance.
Interest rate hedging is not as complicated as it is made out to be. In fact, most traders and investors can hedge their interest rate risks fairly easily with financial products new and old.
For Financial Planners, the Certified Financial Planner Designation, or CFP for short, is one of the most important designations a financial planner can earn.
The CFP designation is well known, and also presents an opportunity for financial planners to stand out from the crowd.
But what does it mean for a financial planner’s customers? Should you work with a CFP just because they have the Certified Financial Planner designation?
Investors have more choice than ever in how they go about investing in the stock market. Among the most important decisions an investor will make, choosing a stockbroker is by far one of the most important.
Now that investors can buy and sell online, there are far more choices for individual investors. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a stockbroker: Read more…
Investors tend to stick with price-to-earnings ratios, or return on equity calculations to see how their favorite firms are performing. But earnings can be easy to manipulate, and any calculation gleaned from net earnings might not give investors a real representative look into a company.
So, when making decisions matters, and accuracy of information is paramount, investors often turn to free cash flow figures to find good investments.
EGShares is a relatively new entrant to the exchange-traded fund industry, but a new fund from the company could prove to be invaluable to long-term investors.
The EGShares HILO exchange-traded fund has a very noble goal—increase the yield available to investors in emerging markets while reducing volatility. The fund seeks out companies that pay attractive dividend yields, while offering the natural growth of the emerging market countries.
The fund also hopes to calm investors’ minds by seeking to eliminate volatility, which typically affects emerging market countries and their respective industries more than US-based equities.
Investors who chase yield want to know where they can find the safest investments with the highest returns.
Chasing yield is not at all a new process to the markets. With interest rates now at record lows going all the way out to 30-years, safe investments with high returns are almost laughable. How can investors protect their capital, enjoy safety, but also bring home some cash flow? We’ll try to answer.
Credit card companies, especially those which market small business credit cards, are coming up with new language to promote their cards.
Recently, credit limits have become taboo. New credit cards offer limits which are not preset. Your limits are unlimited, at least as far as the credit card company tells you.
But there may be some lingering problems with credit cards that feature no preset spending limits. We’ll explain…
Value investing is perhaps the least exciting form of investing. Popular value investing sectors include far more manufacturing and transportation than high-flying tech IPOs or off the market credit default swaps.
Value investing is known for its appreciation not in the best technology or even the best company headquarters, but rigid accounting rules that make real businesses stand out. A value investor is especially disinterested in buying growth, seeking only to buy companies close to their asset values to protect against a worst case scenario.
The IPO market isn’t a market in and of itself, but rather a phrase used to describe investors’ appetite for new IPOs.
In much the same way you might say that the poor economy leads to a weak “job market,” a poor economy also leads to a weak “IPO market,” since fewer companies want to IPO when investors aren’t interested in making risky bets.
This week I wanted to touch on the IPO process, and how companies sell their stock to the public. With the IPO being one of the more important events in the financial markets, you should understand the IPO process inside and out.
First of all, we need to understand what an IPO actually is. The acronym IPO stands for “initial public offering,” which means “the first time stock is sold to the public.” The public, in this example, is average investors who can buy and sell stock on the stock markets.
The difficulty in retirement planning is that no one knows the answer to “How much do I need to retire” much like no one knows the answer to where the stock market will be 5 years from now.
But there are definitely ways to make predictions about retirement planning more accurate.
Also, today’s environment does give retirement savers some clarity about how to plan for retirement spending.
So you have some money in the bank and you’re ready to get started in the world of investing? Good for you.
Most people will tell you that their number one regrets were that they didn’t “start early” when it came to saving, investing, and planning for their financial future. This is truer today than ever. As record low interest rates push down investment performance for retirees, many wonder why they didn’t start early.
We hear plenty about shareholder value. CEOs are tasked to create it, and last week we talked about how activist investors seek to realize it. But what exactly is shareholder value?
Is it just some abstract definition of corporate success?
Is shareholder value just another buzzword for us to digest?
A new program from the Obama Administration is hoping to boost the housing market. Mortgage companies that work with the Federal Housing Administration are now required to offer up to 12 months of forebearance for homeowners who cannot pay their mortgage.
Qualifying for the program is as simple as being out of work—unemployed.
The program isn’t entirely new, but an extension of an old framework that allowed for 4 months of protection should homeowners lose their jobs.
Asset backed loans are quickly becoming the only way to borrow. While on the personal side there are personal loans on car titles and home equity loans, businesses are also finding that asset backed loans are the way to go. Previously, we discussed how small business credit cards are virtually non-existent.
It is our job as analysts to see how changes in lending trends grow or shrink the prospects for economic recovery. Recently, banks have taken to “riskier loans,” but only in the context that they are backed by hard assets—accounts receivables for businesses and real property for individuals and companies.
With the US financial markets worried about several key economic matters—oil price, OPEC decision, Fed policy, and whether or not the debt ceiling will be raised—there seems to be a new trade emerging: buy puts.
In recent days, put activity on the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has been through the roof. A full hour after market open, investors have taken an interest in September dated options. Of the most popular are the 90, 94, and $95 strikes. These strike prices correspond with an S&P500 value of 900, 940, and 950, respectively.
Charles Schwab (SCHW), one of the leading brokerage firms in the United States, today announced that it would take on exchange-traded funds for its asset management business. The recent pivot would mean that investors would be able to buy and sell exchange-traded funds through their 401ks, reducing their overall annual fees.
Never has a company been so aggressive with exchange-traded funds.
It would be hard to ignore what’s happening in modern telecommunications. Recently, ATT decided to go after its rival, T-Mobile in what would be a multi-billion dollar deal. In doing so, it effectively removed one of four of the still remaining cell phone companies in the United States. We’re now left with ATT, Verizon, Sprint (which is in serious financial trouble).
So what’s this mean for consumers? It means we’re going to get screwed. What’s it mean for ATT shareholders? They’re going to clean up!
Investors face a new reality that they have to prepare for their retirement by investing in the best possible investments with reasonable risk to reward ratios, but they’ll also need to be tax code savvy.
Few things change as much as the tax code, but one thing certainly hasn’t changed: the necessity of tax strategies and their relationship with your 401k and IRA. Read more…
So Greece is in turmoil, and the markets have realized it. The country spent far too much on social programs and other spending and now has a very serious deficit. The deficit, though, is further compounded by a much greater problem in that Greece doesn’t control a central bank.
Central banks produce money, the engine of the modern economy. In Europe, the Euro is the currency and it is controlled by the European central bank. The European Central Bank sets monetary policy for the whole of the region, and thus many different countries are affected when the ECB changes monetary policy.
You’ve probably encountered Zillow before, either while searching for an address, a home for sale, or for the sake of getting a computerized appraisal for your home. Zillow is an online real estate database, and soon enough the company hopes to turn the latest dot com boom into a spectacular IPO.
The BRICS group is emerging as a world superpower in terms of international trade. The five countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—are leading the world in growth, with each having its own unique “core competency” for marking money. Let’s break down each BRICS country, what they do, and how they will affect the future.
