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Category: Finance

  • Want A Successful Retirement Strategy? Here’s What You Need To Know

    Want A Successful Retirement Strategy? Here’s What You Need To Know

    A survey by Ipsos/USA TODAY revealed that one in three Americans plans to work during retirement. The reason? Too much debt and not enough income! This makes evident the lack of proper planning on the part of retirees and pre-retirees. The truth is, most people find it hard to transition smoothly from an employed life to a retired life. Walking away from a life of regular income and employer-provided benefits after almost 30 to 40 years isn’t the easiest thing to do, so you need to plan ahead if you wish to minimize the effects of these major life changes.

    However, formulating a strategic retirement plan is not a rush job. Different people have different concerns when it comes to retirement – some wish to make their savings last while others want to cash in on retirement benefits. So, a one-size-fits-all approach is never going to work here. What you need is a comprehensive plan that utilizes every available resource for a comfortable retirement. Find out how you can devise such a plan below:

    Why Time Matters

    The success of your retirement plan depends on how strong your foundation is and that, in turn, depends on your current age and the expected age of retirement. Usually, the longer you have until retirement, the more risks your portfolio can withstand. Pre-retirees and retirees no longer have the option. But instead of fretting over this, what they need to do is have a portfolio that focuses more on capital preservation and income.

    • If you’re planning to retire soon, the best course of action would be to go through your employer’s policies on profit sharing and 401(k) matching, and time your retirement in a way that allows you to reap all the vested benefits that come your way well before they expire. Have a talk with the HR department and check your retirement benefits to see if there is a way to increase it.

    • Also, be sure to apply for the pension five months in advance. Request a benefits statement and take a look at your payout options, if available. Coordinate your pension payout to minimize your tax liability and meet your financial requirements at the same time.

    While planning your retirement strategies on time is important, there is one thing that you can afford not to be worried about—inflation. Studies show that a 64-year-old is likely to be less impacted by inflation than someone who just started his/ her career.

    Plug the Insurance Gap

    A person retiring before 65 may have a lapse in his/her insurance coverage before he/she is eligible for federal health insurance. If your employer lacked provisions for retiree health insurance benefits, you might consider some other individual insurance policies to tide you over until you become eligible for Medicare. However, do not neglect long-term care insurance and life insurance.

    Know What You Want

    It is one thing to realize you need to plan for your retirement; it is another thing altogether to go through with the actual process. Most people shy away from doing the latter partly due to the complications involved and partly due to how long it takes. But a little forethought and expertise can go a long way in simplifying the process and ensuring you do not sell yourself short on any of the perks you are owed. Minimize tax liabilities by taking advantage of all the benefits offered by your employer and planning how you’re going to manage your retirement income. Consult a financial advisor, if necessary.

    Understand the Risks

    Every retiree should aspire to have proper portfolio allocation – the kind that balances return objectives effectively with risk aversion. This will determine the extent of risk you’re willing to take for achieving your retirement objectives. So, it is important to feel comfortable with the risks in your portfolio and differentiate between a luxury and a necessity. This is something that you need to discuss seriously not just with a financial professional but with your family members too.

    Stop Trying to Outsmart the Market

    Finances are tricky. There is always a certain degree of uncertainty involved, which is why you can’t prevent anything bad from happening; all you can do is plan for it beforehand. So, stop trying to outsmart the market. Flexibility is a better choice in these uncertain conditions than sticking rigidly to a plan. This is why most financial experts recommend diversifying a retiree’s portfolio and ensuring all options are not in the same area. When the money is spread around into different types, you end up taking fewer risks. As they say, it is never a good idea to put all your eggs in a single basket.

    Check Back on Your Retirement Plan Often

    Make it a point to review and update your retirement plans every quarter. That may sound a little specific, but there’s a reason behind it – anything less, and you end up losing opportunities; anything more, and you become too emotionally involved with minor fluctuations in the market. So, your best bet is to schedule an appointment with a retirement account specialist and learn more about the allocation plans for your funds.

    Investing Retirement Funds? Plan Wisely

    Retirees should think about consolidating their accounts and rolling 401(k) funds into an IRA so that they can manage it more easily and enjoy greater investment freedom. On the other hand, there are a few retirees who find the investment options with employer-provided 401(k)s cheaper than the ones bought independently. However, it is best to discuss your options with a financial expert and select the option that maximizes your income to get the level of economic flexibility you desire. You should also check whether your beneficiary designations have been set up properly to ensure your retirement benefits go exactly where you want them to go.

    You must have intimate knowledge of your own finances and make careful, informed decisions if you’re planning to create a strategic retirement plan that meets your requirements. But expecting a retiree to do all that instead of enjoying the final stage of life is unfair. So, it is better to designate this task to an expert – a financial advisor who is familiar with the process and understands the correct steps that you need to take for ensuring financial stability in future.

  • 8 Accounting Tips for Small Business Owners

    Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate as they manage their business. They oversee various aspects; from inventory and supply chain, to manpower, accounting and audit, to customer service. Doing business is way more than just purchasing goods and selling it to people. For every business to flourish, a business owner has to know how to manipulate his profit. This is where accounting practices come in.

    Read the list below to learn crucial accounting tips for your small business.

    1.     Keep track of your spendings

    If you haven’t been using any systematic means to keep receipts and POs, now’s the time to do so. Bookkeeping is important because it lets you verify day-to-day transactions for categorization. Through bookkeeping you also get to reconcile your bank statements. By keeping your records intact, you get to monitor your expenses so you can prepare financial statements. You see if you’re spending too much on a commodity or service that isn’t really doing well. It helps you decide where to and where not to spend your capital.

    2.     Compute your Gross Margins

    Remember that it’s not enough to sell everything on the shelf. At the end of the day, it’s not just sales that matter. What gets left after you’ve paid for costs and expenses is what will keep your business running. Determine your Cost of Goods Sold and subtract it from your revenue to get a rough estimate of your Gross Margin.

    3.     Be ready for unexpected expenses

    Whether it’s a calamity or furniture and equipment upgrade, you need to have ‘backup cash’ for immediate and unavoidable expenses. During months where there’s a peak in sales, save as much as you can.

    4.     Hire “who’s” necessary

    With all the ads you see on the internet encouraging you to try DIY accounting, it can be easy to get carried away. Because you’re in charge of your business, you try to “not spend” on people whose work you think you can do. But having professional help beside you when you’re confused about where your money went can prove to be a valuable asset for any entrepreneur. Using the best accounting software is essential but getting advice from an expert is better. Accountants or bookkeepers will keep your finances in order and transparent to avoid discrepancies.

    5. Don’t neglect your clients’ unpaid balances

    Your accounts receivable may be one of the more attractive items to look at, but pending collections shouldn’t be taken for granted. Do not let your customers miss or avoid their regular dues. Unless you’re in the lending business, it’s not healthy to let your clients have the mentality that credit is okay, or worse, that not paying any outstanding balances is perfectly fine. Stand your ground and do not release their orders unless they’ve paid costs. If you have clients who haven’t paid their previous orders, settle those first.

    6. Monitor your labor costs

    Your manpower is an integral part of your business’ success. Regardless of how many people make up your personnel, make sure they are compensated well and fairly. Do not be stingy on perks and benefits, especially for well-deserved employees.After all, happy employees make a happy company.

    7. Make a list of regular payments

    There are expenses that you pay on a regular basis and being proactive helps minimize labor.

    8.Do monthly profit forecasting

    Don’t get drowned with complicated calculations. Come up with a detailed and accurate summary of obligations and expenses to get an idea of how much you need to maintain each month to stay afloat.

    Start right and start strong. Prioritize what’s important and engage in activities that will help you grow your business.

  • 5 Tips that Put You in Charge of your Finances

    5 Tips that Put You in Charge of your Finances

    Debt is one of those topics we try our best to avoid or to explain away, but when the average household is carrying $132,086 in debt with over $15,000 of that amount being credit card debt, it is a conversation that needs to happen, as uncomfortable as it sounds.

    Most of us want to control and reduce our debt load, but because of low-income growth rates and rising costs of living, debt can sometimes feel like an unattainable goal. However, by taking a few simple steps, you can start to get yourself set up for financial success.

    1. Spend Less and Become Addicted to Saving

    We often aren’t acutely aware of what we spend. Taking some time to go through your purchase history can help you identify areas where you may be able to cut back. Make a list of the things that you must have, and a list of what you could spend less on. Then make it a focus to save rather than spend.

    You don’t have to give up every optional item. By scaling back on a few luxury items, you can still buy things you enjoy but at the same time, still see your savings grow, and your debt shrink.

    Also, consider a small regular transfer from your checking to savings. Create your budget without including the amount you move. It will help you save and as you see the amount in your savings increase you, will be less tempted to spend it.

    2. Increase the Amount You Pay

    Even if it is only by a few dollars, paying more than the minimum can help you to pay your debt off more quickly. Review the amount of interest you pay for each debt you have. Then, evaluate the interest your savings account is earning. It may be a better idea to pay more on debts that have high-interest rates with the money in your savings account. It may feel painful at first but when you see your debt decrease, it will be worth it.

    3. Reduce Your Credit Card Debt

    It can become easy to rely on your credit cards to help you out if you need to pay other bills. But at the same time, it can also make it harder to save especially when you are paying high-interest rates. So how can you manage your finances while reducing your credit card debt and increasing the amount you can save?

    Start by reviewing your statements. Know how much interest you currently have. While paying more on your cards as suggested previously can help lower the overall amount of your debt, go the extra mile by stopping the use of your credit card completely. This way, you stop your credit card debts from increasing.

    When you rely on your credit cards to help pay other debts, it is often a hard habit to break. However, when you see your payments become lower, you’ll have more money in your bank account and you’ll be able to see the value of using your cards less often.

    If you have more debt than you can currently manage on your own, you may want to consider participating in a debt consolidation program. Debt settlement is one example of these programs where the balances are negotiated on instead of focusing of adjusting interest rates and late fees. It can help you pay off your debt at a reduced amount and in a shorter amount of time.

    4. Manage Your Credit Score

    When you are behind on payments, your credit score is the last thing you want to see. However, it’s really the starting point of you taking control of your finances. Knowing what you need to do to improve your score is critical as you work to get your debt under control.

    Start paying your bills on time. This contributes to more than a third of your overall credit score. Next, reduce your debt load by using credit cards less often and resist the temptation to open additional cards.

    5. Prepare for the Future

    When you are young, retirement isn’t really something you think about right away. Keep in mind that retirement is becoming more and more expensive. Unless you want to work until you are in your sixties, you should start planning for today.

    The first and easiest way to take charge of your future is to participate in your employer sponsored saving plans. Plans that include a match up to a certain percentage of your contribution means you are getting free money for your retirement. Even if you can only contribute enough to meet the matching percentage, it’s still worth it.

    In addition to preparing for retirement, you should also prepare for the unknown. Emergencies happen, and they often happen when we aren’t emotionally or financially prepared for them. Creating a savings account for emergencies can protect you and your family from the unexpected.

    It can be hard to admit that you aren’t in control of your financial situation. Take comfort in the fact that you aren’t alone. Debt and credit management is a struggle for a lot of people. While you cannot erase your debt overnight, you can take steps that put you in charge of your money.

    Final Thoughts

    Taking time at least a few times a week to review your financial situation can help you plan for your future and while it may take some time before you see results, your dedication and patience will be rewarded. Reducing debt and increasing the amount you are saving won’t be easy at first. But when you can pay off your debts for good or put a down payment on your first house, it will be well worth the sacrifices made.

  • How to Run a Successful Organization with CFO Services?

    How to Run a Successful Organization with CFO Services?

    A CFO is an essential one for the betterment of an organization to ensure high success rates while planning important activities. Whether it is a start up, small, medium or large company, a chief financial officer will help to run the operations successfully for generating more income.

    The importance of having a CFO

    There are many companies facing challenges in executing important decisions that affect their growth levels considerably. Moreover, they find it difficult to manage problems from their competitors which result in loss of revenues. Having a part time and full time CFO in a company will ultimately help to get solutions for various types of issues to run a organization without any difficulties.

    What are the responsibilities of a CFO?

    A chief financial officer has several responsibilities in a company and plays a key role in handling complex issues effectively. Some of the key jobs involve cash flow management, understanding company’s liabilities, reviewing performance levels, supervising departments, accounting management, budget preparation, submitting auditing reports, organizing stakeholders meeting, capital raising, controlling expenses, analyzing legal issues, arranging board meetings and so on.

    How to hire a CFO?

    The process of hiring an officer is not a simpler process because it involves a lot of steps. There are several companies that are willing to outsource their services for accomplishing goals. At the same time, it is necessary to identify a best company that has a good record.

    Advantages of outsourcing CFO services

    The financial officer services will benefit a company more for reaching next levels. Some of them include cost reduction, increasing overall efficiency, developing budgets, complying with tax regulations, upgrading accounting software and implementing financial plans. Companies can maintain accuracy levels in book keeping and other works with Outsourced CFO Services to witness progress levels quickly. Moreover, they show ways for enhancing performance levels of employees by addressing essential needs.

    Establishing the reputation of a company

    Companies interested in focusing more on their objectives, policies, programs and other procedures can seek support from a leading firm for meeting exact requirements. This in turn gives methods for choosing a CFO who possesses strong skills. Furthermore, it is possible to establishing the reputation of a company in the markets with outsourcing services for generating more income. On the other hand, it is necessary to make a complete a study on them from the internet for gaining ideas as soon as possible for assuring progress levels.

  • Roads towards More Sensible Residential Water Consumption

    Roads towards More Sensible Residential Water Consumption

    There seems to be a general consensus that water will be the most valuable natural resource in the future. In some parts of the world, people are quite aware of this fact and are doing everything they can to preserve this resource. In others, on the other hand, the awareness is still at a very low level and water is mistreated, wasted and polluted without any penalty for such behavior.

    It may seem too obvious to talk about how we need to save water, not only because we would be paying less, but more importantly because we need to save this resource without which there’s no life. Fortunately, technology and science have made huge progress recently and we can use the benefit of that development to our advantage. Here are just some tips all of us can use to save more water at home.Residential Water Consumption

    Double Flush for Double Savings

    If you don’t have one of those double flush (a.k.a. “dual flush”) toilets, you’re wasting much more water than you should. These modern and efficient toilets allow you to choose whether you need a big or small flushing function. In terms of quantities, you might spend around 7 litres or perhaps only a half of that amount. It’s your call. Bearing in mind that, in most cases, you don’t need anything more than a small flush, you can see how much water will be saved and how much lower your water bill will be. You can even calculate how much time you’d need to completely pay off the investment in purchasing and installing such a fixture.

    Use More Air

    Simple-to-install devices called aerators can be attached to the faucet to manage the water flow. What they do is provide the same pressure and performance with reduction in the amount of water used. They are quite inexpensive and require no special skills for installation, which is the reason more and more people are using them wherever they can.

    Save while Showering

    As more and more people are choosing to have a shower instead of taking a long bath because it’s much quicker, they are also saving water. What most of them still don’t know, however, is that they can go a step further. Modern shower heads can save as much as several gallons of water in a single shower,claim at a trusted Monmouth County plumbing service.What you can do is multiply this amount with the number of people living in your house and you’ll see how amazing this potential saving is.

    Cheap Solutions

    One of the things you can use if you’re cash-strapped is to install tank bags, which can save up to 3 litres per flush, and you don’t need to replace your toilet. Of course, you may decide not to fill the bag up, but only as much as you need. Some people even put a brick or two in the tank, but that might be considered an extreme measure.

    Other Means

    Depending on your budget, you might also be interested in shower timers and regulators, which limit and control the amount of time, i.e. water, you use while taking a shower. Some people also uses valves for the same purpose, since they allow them to stop the water flow while they are applying soap and shampoo.

    Naturally, before you start thinking about the possible ways of saving both your water and money, you need to inspect your installations carefully and check for any possible leakage. Even a slightest problem and dripping leads to unnecessary waste and expenditure. Also, if not fixed immediately, it can damage some parts of your home, so that you need to invest heavily in repair works.

    If you find any work related to purchase and installation simply overwhelming, you should consult a professional, who’ll be able to give you the best advice about your concerns. Remember, this is a win-win situation, since you’re helping both the most important natural resource and your budget and you need to make sure you’re making right choices.

  • The personal finance for new generation – Taking care of your money

    The personal finance for new generation – Taking care of your money

    If you are like majority of the Americans, you must not have been saving enough for your retirement as retirees in the US are infamous for not saving enough for their post-retired age. The average age for retirement in the US is 63 and though you may have been nurturing plans of working for a longer period of time, yet your 60s should be the best time for making some of the most vital financial moves. Not saving enough for retirement and not managing your personal finances can lead to debt which in turn can mar your retirement goals. Hence, check out some key personal finance steps that you should take in order to spend a debt-free golden years.

    #1: Develop a well-proved strategy for your Social Security

    Although Social Security is designed in such a way that it replaces 40% of your pre-retirement income, it pays you to get as much dollars out of the program as is possible. Currently, there is no such rule about when you should claim your Social Security first but the only thing you should know is that the benefits will be based on the total amount which you earned while you were employed. You can count all those benefits entirely unless you reach your complete retirement age. Hence you need to devise a profitable Social Security strategy in order to secure your retired life.

    #2: Repay your mortgage liabilities

    The less is the amount of debt that you have when you go into retirement, the easier it will be for you to get on with fixed income. Mortgages are big loans and they tend to be a huge source of debt for most people who have them. Therefore once you start aging and you walk one step after another towards retirement, you have to focus on paying off your mortgage loan debt. If you see that working an extra year can give you the option of entering retirement without any mortgage debt, it is definitely a wise step to take.

    #3: Devise a budge for retirement

    Majority of the retirees require 70-80% of their pre-retirement income in order to cover all their living expenses as soon as they stop working. But you shouldn’t target that much only as there may suddenly arise other health factors like falling ill or getting admitted in the nursing home. Your budget should reflect the kind of expenses that you may have in retirement. You may still eliminate a few of your present costs in retirement like traveling expenses and some other like entertainment as these are some requirements which change after aging.

    Apart from retirement planning, another area that people need to focus on is taxes. You either have to seek help of a tax specialist or a tax manager when it comes to taking the right tax decisions. In case you feel you’ve fallen back on your taxes, make sure you seek tax help as tax specialists are all eager to help you with the same.