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The biz is $30k. what options are there? investors? no banks please.

If you are avoiding banks because of credit issues, you will have trouble with finding investors.

The starting point would be to develop a business plan that shows how you plan to develop the business which includes capital growth projections. Investors (being people with money that have been their done that) will scrutinize this plan, so be sure you are realistic. The best place to find investors is to go to friends and family that already have a reason (I assume) to believe in your success.

I would also recommend going to the Small Business Administration for helpful information on starting a business. They have several links and articles about start up capital.

Why should you teach your employees the importance of personal financial management????What are some creative ways of doing this????

I think that when you teach people the importance of personal finance management it makes a better work enviroment… It also helps keep stress out of the work enviroment…
CAN SOME ONE PLEASE HELP ME EXPLAIN UGH

It’s no secret to anyone that Americans have accumulated high personal debt with less than wise spending in the last several years. Savings have been down and debt high by most measures available. The recent economic state certainly has changed consumer behavior and helped surface a real need to pay down debt, save more and spend wisely.

Debt, in my view, is crippling. The loss of a job or the need for extra cash at the time of an emergency are real circumstances for people. Debt clogs us up. It hinders us. It weighs us down. It enslaves us and it simply makes us inflexible to maneuver through these circumstances.

Where do we begin to change the trend? Sure, uncontrollable forces such as the economy that I mentioned will help, but surely there is more. Public schools are making the move to educate children on money management fundamentals and build personal finance curriculum. These children are our future leaders. They are the business owners and the family CFO’s.

It reminds me of years in playing soccer and loving the sport. It gave me the opportunity to see and think about what would change soccer in America forever? How would America become a competing powerhouse in the World Cup? It starts with the youth, right? You give them the best coaching and play them against the toughest competition and the future of soccer in America can change.

But, what do we do about the people like you and me who are in the working force today. Our personal finance education may have been minimal in our youth. Unfortunately, most families don’t train up children in this area. So for me it became a passion to learn more about personal finance when life got serious (marriage, children, etc.). My passion grew more and more and so much that I love to coach people today in money management.

In a recent article from the Harvard Business Review titled, “Teach Workers About the Perils of Debt”, experts found that employees are quite uneducated when it comes to personal finance. Surprise, surprise, you might say. Well, companies might be missing the boat on this one if they aren’t moving to include more educational tools (outside of the 401k/retirement) to help their employees.

“In light of the money consumers are pouring into credit card fees and interest payments, wouldn’t it be wise for companies to put some effort into improving debt literacy, rather than focusing workplace programs exclusively on retirement savings? Piling up credit card debt at rates of 18% or higher while investing a small fraction of weekly pay into a 401k may not be the best way for an employee to achieve financial well-being.”

But doesn’t it go beyond financial well-being? If employees are better at managing their money, perhaps they’ll be better at managing company resources. Perhaps they will carry with them less stress to the workplace which certainly impacts their ability to perform at the highest level. These are just my theories, but I think would be worth trying to measure for companies.

One of the things I’ve always been trained to do is to manage the company’s money like it were mine. But what if I’m drowning in debt and spending recklessly? “But I don’t have much financial responsibility at my company”, you say. Really? The smallest matters count. Are you wasteful with office supplies? Yes? Then you aren’t managing resources wisely and perhaps money management education could help.

This is a great opportunity for companies today. If they care for their employees, or provide them the instruction to better manage their money; I believe people will be able to give them more in return. Basic courses in budgeting and debt reduction in addition to the retirement planning would be a great start.

Please be specific or add a good reference web site. 401 seem useless. Where can my wife and I really make good returns?

You should invest in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. For most folks this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion

Buying a house instead of renting will save you a lot of money in the long run. You don’t have to pay rent and you build equity in your house instead. Buying rental property can also be a good investment. However, being a landlord can be hard work, and many people are not good at it. If you don’t know how to handle deadbeat renters, you can have trouble.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

http://www.ricklomas.com/2007/09/25/monetize-your-blog/
is a post I wrote today about the new ebook by Rick Butts, called “How to monetize your website or blog to make $1000 per month”. It is available free from my website and is a really great read. I thought I better back it up with some video so here it is. Once again thanks again to Rick Butts for writing ‘Monetize Your Blog” in the first place.

Duration : 0:2:0

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Our conference is coming up soon on February 2nd! Get a taste of what you’ll be seeing from our speakers the day of! And stay tuned for updates on livestreaming!

Preet Banerjee was originally trained as a neuroscientist, and after a brief stint as an aspiring racecar driver, ultimately landed in the world of personal finance. Formerly a stockbroker, then an index fund wholesaler, he is now the new host of the television series ‘Million Dollar Neighbourhood’ on The Oprah Winfrey Network, a personal finance columnist with The Globe and Mail, and author of three personal finance books. He is also a founding investor in Tunezy.com, a social e-commerce platform for music.

Learn more about the event at http://www.tedxutsc.com
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TEDxUTSC
Follow us on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TEDxUTSC

Duration : 0:1:17

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Bonds are investment tools that companies use for loan purposes to break up debt into smaller monetary increments. Invest in bonds, which can come in 10 or 15 year payoff periods, with tips from a futures and options floor trader in this free video on personal finance.

Expert: Mark Griffith
Bio: Mark Griffith has graduated in economics and philosophy at Clare College, Cambridge. He has been a futures and options floor trader at LIFFE (London International Financial Futures Exchange).
Filmmaker: Paul Volniansky

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***Call Sharman Lawson at 770-966-1639*** Have you ever thought about being totally debt free including your mortgage? If you could pay off all your debt including your mortgage in less then 5 years, would you? Sharman Lawson is a debt and personal finance coach. Listen to what she has to say.

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How-To Use the Quicken Register and Track Transactions.
Learn more about using the Quicken register to track and organize your transactions. Customize the register to resize and hide columns to see only what you want. New features make using the Quicken register easier than ever.

Visit Quicken.Intuit.com

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Basic information on Mutual Funds (Part 2 of 2).

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Renewable Energy a Way of Life in Small German City of Freiburg (Bloomberg News)

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