Finance & Money

Archive for the ‘Asset’ Category

The absolute best time to get paid by your bank is when you are actually shopping around for a new account. Whether it is to be your first account or you are switching banks, you are in the best position to negotiate with financial institutions when they are trying to earn your businesses. Most banks have incentives and bonuses designed to attract new banking customers. Some of the incentives are as simple as free checks for a year, while other banks actually offer cash amounts ranging from $25 to $100. Use a bank comparison Web site to see what banks in your area are offering, and always make sure to read the fine print and do your homework before committing to one bank or another.

Earning More Interest

A great way to get your bank to pay you is to open only interest-bearing accounts. If you hold a savings account, it may or may not earn interest. You should find out if the account that currently holds your savings bears the maximum interest possible for the amount in deposit. These days, most banks also offer interest-bearing checking accounts.

If your bank does not, it may be worth your while to switch banks in order to earn interest on your deposits. Compare banks and accounts to see where your money is likely to earn the most interest. Don’t forget to include credit unions in your research, as they are co-ops that generally pay out dividends to members.

Avoiding Bank Charges and Fees

One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to banking involves “free checking.” Most banks offer some sort of promotional checking account that they attempt to pass off as “free checking.” While the free checking account programs can be very attractive and beneficial, you mustn’t assume that you will avoid any and all bank account charges.

Most free checking accounts require a minimum daily balance in order to remain “free.” The average monthly balance required in order to avoid a monthly service fee on an interest-bearing checking account is around $3000. If your balance goes any lower than the minimum balance, the average monthly fee is around $11. It may not sound like much, but in a year, you are looking at $132. Multiply that by 5 or 10 years and….you get the picture.

Operating Lease

In this type of lease, the lessor remains the owner of the asset and he rents it to the lessee for a particular period (ranging from one to five years). Thereafter according to his particular need, the lessee can either renew the lease or return the asset to the lessor. The lessor can then either sell the asset in the second hand market or lease it to some other lessee.

Rent is usually low in this case as the lessor does not need to recover the full asset value. This type of lease works fine with business which are either into seasonal operations or who operate in a business environment where the technology keeps on changing such as IT.

Contract Hire

This is one form of operating lease which is used mostly in vehicle finance. The lease arrangements include service features like maintenance, replacement during repair, management, etc. The rental payout is calculated on the basis of the residual value of the asset after the lease term, thus covering the depreciation over this period.

Finance Lease

In this type of asset finance, the lease period is long and covers the entire working life of the asset. Hence, the leasing payments realize the full cost of the asset over the lease period. When the asset is sold at the end of the term, the lessee will share a percentage of the disposal price with the leasing company.

If you’re retired and relying on your pension or retirement savings to support your lifestyle then most likely you’ve taken a major hit over the last 2 years with the global crisis and financial meltdown severely affecting the savings of most retirees. So are there any self employed opportunities for retirees out there?

Many soon-to-be retirees have also delayed their retirement because their golden nest egg is no longer as big as it used to be. To make matters worse interest rates across the globe are at their lowest in decades which does not help the situation.

As a financial adviser I have been at the coalface experiencing this situation with many retired or soon-to-be retired clients. It comes as no surprise that many retirees have been forced back in to the workforce to supplement their income. Many of them take up casual or part-time work in jobs paying minimal income and some even going back to their main career or taking on study courses to improve their chances.

But the most popular area where retirees are looking for income is on the internet. It seems the internet offers not only working people but also retirees the opportunity to earn a decent part time income and in many cases a substantial 6 figure income. There are many examples of this happening on the internet. Through my own online business I met a 75 y.o. grandmother who knew nothing about computers, let alone the internet, and in the space of 2 years is earning a substantial monthly income that many board room executives would be envious of.