My Business Blog

Those hooky satire songs from FreeCreditReport.com hide a dark secret. First of all, that dude is a French-Canadian, so he probably doesn’t even have a credit history in the U.S., and to make matters worse, that supposed dreamboat minstrel doesn’t seem quite as endearing once you realize that your “free” credit report actually came with a $79.95 annual membership (that is if you if you forgot to cancel or didn’t read the fine print). Raw deal.

Luckily, the FTC is fighting back on your behalf. Their fir

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In Florida, the latest jobless report showed a similar pattern for February. Employers paid for the first statewide job gains in two years, but the jobless rate climbed to 12.2 percent, the worst number since the records were first compiled in 1970.

Though employers are finally adding jobs in a sign that the economic recovery is gaining momentum and healing the employment market, they are mostly replacing people as they leave. That is only gradually bringing the work force up to match rising orders or sales, experts said.

As that activity level filters down to discouraged workers, many start looking for a job again, sometimes for the first time in more than a year.

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When a customer walks into your store or visits your website, you have a chance to impress them.  They are looking for options and a product or service that will fit their needs.  It’s important that they are provided with choices; a limited selection generally isn’t a good thing.

North American Bancard does a great job of giving our clients choices and helping them move forward from there.  We know how important it is that the customer gets exactly what they need, because their business relies on it.  That’s why we offer a variety of different options for every kind of business, ranging from wireless credit card processing machines to in-store credit card processing equipment.  NAB has extensive experience and truly understands your needs.  Take a look at what one of our satisfied customers had to say about NAB:

“I was shocked how responsive North American Bancard was in integrating our new merchant account with our front desk system. Not o Read more…

When deciding the salary/dividend mix to take when incorporated, there are other factors to consider in addition to those mentioned in the previous post. Time and space constraints prevent exploring them all, but some of the more notable ones can be reviewed here.

Probably the most important of the additional factors is diversification. Taking salary and making RRSP contributions has the extra advantage of greater diversification. Wealth is not concentrated just in the business but is also spread over financial assets in the RRSP.

Christine Van Cauwenberghe adds (in Wealth Planning Strategies for Canadians 2010) that if you receive income in the form of dividends, you will not be able to make CPP contributions and claim CPP when you retire.

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That is good news for people who plan to sell their homes this spring. Prices are now up almost 4 percent from the bottom in May 2009, though still almost 30 percent below the May 2006 peak.

Prices rose 0.3 percent from December to January on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday. Prices increased in 12 cities in the index.

The biggest monthly gain was in Los Angeles, where prices rose 1.8 percent from December. Real estate agents say there is a distinct sense the worst of the downturn is over.

Buyers are “seeing that prices are creeping up,” said Tony Middleton, a real estate agent with ZipRealty who concentrates on the San Fernando Valley.

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Whether you are an Obama supporter or can’t wait for the Republicans to make a comeback, what they do in Washington D.C. is not going to be the answer to your business credit needs any time soon.Okay, that is not always the case. If you need an SBA loan and some of the recent changes have improved availability, it might help you.But for most businesses looking to a local community bank to make the loan, nothing has improved recently. Nor has it gotten particularly worse.If your recent financial statements and tax returns show you have a strong business with good cashflow and good collateral, you have a good opportunity to get the loan. Banks want to lend.

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