Do Business Well

With all of this talk about the importance of implementing a personal development program, you might say, how is this possible? How do these people have time or resources for reading books and listening to CDs? How am I going to afford a three-day intensive workshop, or scarier yet, long-term one-on-one coaching? And if this kind of training has such an impact, not only on the individual but also on the companies they represent, why don’t employers make this training easier to pursue? Continue Reading »

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If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. I have found it very interesting that the opposite also seems to be true: the less you learn, the more you think you know. As the saying goes, ignorance and arrogance go hand in hand. If we’re not working on ourselves, we don’t realize the wealth of knowledge out there waiting for us. We are living in the information age, and if you don’t spend time learning, keeping up with technology, and increasing your knowledge base, you will fall so far behind that it will be extremely difficult to catch up. Knowledge is the key to success in today’s world. Studies consistently demonstrate that those who are learning and growing every day are more successful and optimistic about life. Continue Reading »

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A corporation is owned by its stockholders. There may be one stockholder holding all the shares, or there may be millions of shareholders holding various amounts of shares. Without going into details that are far beyond the scope of a business this size, I should point out that it is also possible for corporations to sell various classes of shares with various rights and preferences. For the very small business, we can limit our discussion to two types of simple corporations: the regular, or “C” corporation, which is taxed directly by the IRS; and the “Sub S” corporation, where the earnings are passed through to the stockholders, who must pay the tax personally.

Both of these forms limit the financial exposure of the owners to their actual investment and any value in the corporation beyond that investment. This is the single greatest advantage of a corporation. However, the shareholders can lose this protection if they don’t completely separate the affairs of the corporation from their own personal affairs. They must also be certain that the amount of the original investment is clearly adequate to protect the public and the vendors from the likely activities of the corporation. Continue Reading »

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So far I’ve talked about using savings accounts and CDs to save up stacks of cash. There are lots of other investments out there— stocks, bonds, precious metals, commodities, and many more. Most of these kinds of investments don’t really work for teenagers because they require large amounts of money to get started.

There’s one nonbank investment that works just fine for teenagers—mutual funds. They don’t require lots of money to get started, and they can make your savings grow faster than a bank account. Here’s how they work.

Let’s say you have $500 to invest in something. You could buy 100 shares of a stock trading at $5 per share, but that’s putting all your eggs in one basket. If the stock does poorly, you’ll lose some or all of your investment. Not a good idea. Continue Reading »

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I don’t know your financial situation or what you dream of doing in your future. But if you’re like most teenagers, you have a specific high-dollar dream in your immediate future, whether it’s a car, a college education, or even a three-month overseas mission trip after you graduate from high school. Whatever your next big financial goal, this four-step strategy can help you reach it.

1. GO FOR GROWTH

Your number one investment goal is to make your money grow. Right now you have few expenses compared to your income. But soon you’ll be paying for cars, education, furniture, entertainment, clothes, food, housing, medical expenses, and a thousand other things that someday will obliterate your paycheck. Make the right investments now, and your money will grow substantially until you really need it. Continue Reading »

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By now you’re an old pro at this money thing. Just keep managing your existing investments, and transfer your accumulating savings balance to these or new investments as you see fit. If you paid attention, you saw that I followed a few simple guidelines for this strategy.

Use Your Savings Account as a Staging Area

In other words, use it to store your accumulating weekly contributions until you have a balance large enough to transfer to a higher-yielding investment. If you keep all your savings in a regular savings account, you’re missing out on better opportunities. Continue Reading »

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