Archive for September, 2011
Should you insure against floods?
Although the rain fell and floods came with Hurricane Irene, it was not quite on a Biblical scale, but it was certainly devastating to many communities that had never before believed it possible they could be the victims of flooding. Yet, in upstate New York and Vermont, entire communities have been introduced to a new reality of flooding and mudslides. No matter what you think about all these stories of global warming and climate change, there’s an underling reality you can’t deny. This has been a bad year for weather. Read any of the hard news sites and they will all tell you the same story. Property and auto insurance claims have already broken records this year. By the time we’re through December, the year 2011 will have gone into the books as the most expensive for weather-related insurance claims.
Perhaps not surprisingly, insurers have been receiving a lot more calls asking about flood insurance. Obviously, many homeowners have discovered their own policies exclude flood damage. In the hope of reducing future losses, they now ask what’s available and this is not good news. The majority of private insurers withdrew from covering floods some years ago. For a number of reasons, insurers have found they cannot make flood insurance profitable and they are not prepared to cross-subsidize from other types of cover. Most now only offer the Federal Flood Insurance Program which is funded out of tax revenues. As an aside, even this insurance may be lost if Washington fails to renew its funding allocation by the end of September 2011.
Assuming the Federal Program survives this budgetary crisis, it’s not really designed for the majority of homes. The first states that asked for federal help were on the Gulf Coast and the majority of properties built close to the sea don’t have basements. The cover for basements is therefore limited to the replacement of mechanical equipment like furnaces and water heaters, and the main cover only applies to the first story and above with a maximum of $250,000 for rebuilding. If you live further north, basements are common and rebuilding costs are higher. This suggests you will always need to top up the Federal Program cover. You will always need a basic home insurance policy to cover all the other ways in which your property can be damaged. The Federal Program limits contents claims to $100,000, so you will need a policy to increase the rebuilding and contents limits. The cost of this supplemental covers varies quite significantly depending on the weather patterns and geography of your state. It might surprise you to know there have been quite serious floods in Arizona, but they are quite rare. Where the risk of flooding is low, you can probably find additional cover for as little as $300 a year. In states where the risks are higher, the home insurance rates are likely to be between $600 and $800 a year. After a while, you will come to a hard decision. In states where the risk of flooding is actually quite small, how long will you pay the additional premium? According to the insurance industry, most people allow these supplemental policies to lapse within two to four years.
Accounting Basic – What is the Accounting Equation?
The accounting equation is the basic, fundamental formula of double-entry system. The formula of the equation involves a business’s liabilities, assets, and equity and how these three elements are related. The formula says that a business’s equity, or net worth, can be calculated by subtracting the worth of the business’s liabilities from the worth of its assets.
The accounting equation is the most commonly used equation on balance sheets, and it is necessary to understand the equation in order to properly evaluate and understand balance sheet.
With a basic understanding of the terms associated with the equation, it is relatively easy to understand the formula and how it works. The worth of a business’s liabilities is the total amount of money or resources the business paid out in order to acquire its assets. The worth of a business’s assets is the total amount of money or products in possession of the business owner. The accounting equation is represented: worth of assets – worth of liabilities = total equity.
For an example of the accounting equation let us consider ABC Cellular Phones. Last month the following transactions took place:
the owner invested $3,000 into his business paid $500 for his bills for the month received $1,000 from customer for purchases.
The equation would look like this:
assets ($3,000 + $1,000) – liabilities ($500) = $3,500 total equity.
It is important to understand that this illustration is very basic and does not take into consideration factors that influence the worth of business’s assets and liabilities, such as depreciation, that can fluctuate over time.
The accounting equation works not only to accurately assess the equity of a business, but also to alert a business to problems regarding the calculation of its equity. If the equation is properly used and the liabilities are accurately subtracted for the assets, the calculated equity should match the actual equity. If there is a discrepancy between what the accounting equation calculates as a company’s equity and the actual equity, then there is clearly a problem that should be investigated. Or, if the sum of the worth of liabilities and the worth of the equity does not equal the worth of assets, there is an accounting error. Thus, a discrepancy can alert businesses to a problem with their balance sheet.
By: Ana Orwel
About the Author:
What Are Unsecured Business Loans?
Unsecured Business Loans
Unsecured loans are best solutions for people who cannot afford to pledge any collateral against the loan. These loans can also be obtained by people if they do not want to risk their assets. These loans can also be obtained by people having a poor credit rating. They can be used for small,medium and large businesses. The amount of loan given to borrowers will depend on the business income and borrower’s repaying ability. The rate of interest will be proportional to the credit score.
Unsecured business loans can also be applied online and there are lots of lenders offering them at low interest rates. Before applying for the business loans,it is better to raise your credit score by paying back little debts. This can reduce the interest rate and it can save you a lot of money in the long run. There are many people who always tend to approach the banks and the financial companies.
These people will always give the unsecured loans at a high rate of interest. You need to get an online lender for lowest rate of interest. There are several individual lenders online and you need to select the best lender.
Advantages of Unsecured Business Loans
1. The borrower need not provide any collateral for the borrowed amount,
2. The lenders do not enforce any restriction on the use of funds. This is not the case in secured business loans,
3. Bad credit holder can get these loans without too much hassles.
Applying for the unsecured business loans online
As i said earlier,the online lenders give the loans at a much lower rate of interest than the financial companies. The lenders might require your business profile including the ownership,annual sales, type of business and the number of employees.
You would be needed to fill all these details in the application form.
Building Insurance
For any accidents that may occur upon your stay in a building, a company should also make sure that they are insured and covered should there be any reasons for them to use this one. There are also different insurance policies that these companies follow that will allow them to search and go well beyond on what can be covered in case accidents and damages will happen. It is a company’s responsibility though to ensure that a buildings insurance is obtained as soon as the business starts operating. This is indeed a safer step in ensuring that the company is pretty covered with all the necessary insurance that it needs in order to make things work out.
During a company’s stay in the building, there are circumstances that damages can occur. There may be structural damages for example like damages on walls, ceilings, rooftops, including some facilities used within the building. There is also the need and responsibility to secure the location in case these structural damages may happen and this is where the buildings insurance will come in. It is indeed very necessary to take care of a buildings insurance in order to prevent any damages done with this. Calamities and natural disasters may also be the consideration when getting a buildings insurance. This is something that has indeed a possibility of having to look after some various protection and structural needs for this. The buildings insurance would also need to make it as a great potential in looking after a company’s’ assets . So there is indeed an assurance that you can get when you have the best insurance policy that can cover up your needs just in case you need this. This is indeed one thing that you can do in order to take care of the buildings insurance.
Properties will indeed be considered as a great asset in ones company but there should also be a way for the company to ensure that their places are ensured and properly taken care of in case of some structural damages and any other things that may occur bound within the insurance within the company premises.
Dental Practice Financing
Finding Dental Practice Financing
Before you go ahead and look for dental financing needs, you would need to address aspects such as what kind of dental office youre after, the location, the consultants/advisors that you would need, etc. Once you find the right practice, you need to establish the costs involved. For instance, while a practice might have a high gross income, it could also come with substantial overhead costs. On the other hand, a small practice could be a good option due to considerably lower overhead costs.
The Costs Involved:
There is more to buying a practice than just the price. Other costs that you need to consider before you look for a dental office loan includes:
The fees you would have to pay for the services provided by the financing company, lawyers, consultants, business evaluators, and accountants.
All applicable taxes.
Overhead costs such as costs for new signage, letterheads, new furniture, new equipment, etc.
Salaries for employees.
Dental supply costs.
Once you know how much money you will need, you get to looking for the right dental office loan.
Dental Practice Financing:
When you start looking at your dental office financing options, do bear in mind that dentists are generally looked upon as safe credits by most banks. Therefore, you can expect to invest lower down payment, and this could be lower than ten percent of the required amount. Also, when you choose to buy an existing dental practice, the former entity would be dissolved and the financing would be in the name of the new one (which would be under your name).
How you choose to go ahead with your dental practice funding is also something that needs your complete attention. Understand that there are finance institutions such as City Capital Finance which specialize in dental practice acquisition loans. The options, that you as an applicant have, include conventional and unconventional dental office loans and you can also think about getting an SBA loan for dental office. You also have the option to choose between mobile care & real estate dental office loans as well as loans for standalone dental offices & dental office buildings. Besides, you can also opt in between full documentation financing and stated income.
Since you do have an assortment of options to choose from when it comes to finding the right dental practice acquisition loan, seeking professional help that can help you figure out what your best option is something you should think about
Business Directory Listing As A Marketing Strategy
Business directories also show the industry that it has a new member. When the business wants recommendations from the local small business association or the Better Business Bureau, they need to be listed in a directory that shows they can serve the local customers. When customers are looking up a number for their favorite provider, they may be open to using a new company to serve their needs, especially if a new business listing gives a quick deal for first time callers or visitors. Also, a business needs to be visible for people new to the neighborhood or town, or for someone from out of town, who will generally look in a business directory to find what they need.
For online purposes, business directories serve a valuable marketing need. People do online searches for businesses in certain areas for research, statistics, information, price comparisons and national studies. They go straight to the entries in the part of the business directory that has what they need, and are most likely to only feature the ones they require for their purposes.
A small business, especially a new one, needs to be in any kind of national study, both for obvious publicity reasons on a larger scale, and for the benefits that could come from a study. Some studies are done to find small businesses across the country to be potential recipients of local or national funds, or even tax breaks. Being involved could lead to being the subject of a focus segment or article that goes in to great detail, with a profile and interviews that will push online and in person sales through the roof. All of this is at no cost to the business owner, except the original directory listing fee, which will be well worth it for this kind of magnifying glass on the business.
For Google and other large search engines, finding a small, local, or highly specified business can be very difficult. Large national retailers or businesses with branches nationwide can advertise and publicize their services on a grand level and have people manage their social media accounts, like Twitter and Facebook. Small businesses have a better chance of getting into search engines by maximizing their keyword density and putting a listing in every business directory they can afford. A large number of different sources of keywords in close proximity to the business’ name will increase the profitability of searches. It is completely logical. The more times a name occurs on different sites, the more searchable it is. So, the more searchable it is, the more Google will feature it as a result.
Being listed in business directories will help the venture get more ‘backlinks’ too, which is also a calculation tool used by search engines. One of the best ways to position backlinks is to be in a directory that is aimed only at the industry the business is in and not just in general business directories. As a professional and segmented listing, it is weighed even more heavily by the search engines and the industry competitors. Once a business is listed with their more established competitors, they gain an amount of respect equal to an accepted member of the business community.