Money is not everything. There are travelers’ checks, money orders, and credit cards. When you start your own business, there’s a way for you to obtain much-needed capital, too. This way is called small business financing credit card.
Small business financing credit card, also known as small business starter credit cards, is a great way to keep your personal and business finances separate.
Personal Credit Card Versus Small Business Financing Credit Card
In the past and even at present, lots of entrepreneurs rely on their personal credit to get their business up and running. The problem with this is that they carry the debt from their business into their personal credit cards. Ultimately, they end up hurting their personal credit scores.
This is where small business financing credit cards come in. They offer higher credit limit. Additionally, they keep business and personal expense separate, thereby making it painless to track tax deductions. More importantly, you may write off your small business financing credit card’s finance charges and annual fees.
Why Get a Small Business Financing Credit Card
1. Build Credit
A small business financing credit card is a good way to build a financial history. Your business is a start-up; it’s unknown. This makes it difficult for your business to obtain loans. A small business financing credit card will remedy this. It will provide banks with the spending footprints they need to reassure themselves you’re a responsible borrower.
2. Avoid Intermingling
When it comes to managing your expense, there’s one thing you should always do. Segregate, segregate, segregate. Do not mix business and personal transactions. This might later on create tax and money management problems.
3. Prevent Shoebox Accounting
It is always a nightmare to track business expenditures. With a small business financing credit card, however, you can turn the nightmare into one you can easily snap out of. Your credit card company will provide you with a year-end statement where you can find your transactions summarized, itemized, and categorized. With such a report available, there’s no need to keep a shoebox stacked with receipts.
4. Special Rewards
The credit card industry is so competitive providers fall over themselves to lure borrowers. Accordingly, a reward and discount program for small business credit card users was developed. Every time you use your small business financing credit card, you qualify for discounts and rewards, ranging from office supplies and plane tickets to phone services.
How to Manage Your Small Business Financing Credit Card Effectively
Credit cards, whether personal or corporate, will always be open to potential abuse. Effectively manage your small business financing credit card by:
1. Limiting card hopping
Sure, you qualify for multiple cards, but this does not mean you should sign up. You shouldn’t. This will only tempt you to overspend. It will hurt your credit rating, too.
2. Steering clear of cash advances
Never use this credit card feature unless you need to bail yourself out of jail. It comes with whooping credit card fees and interest costs.
3. Avoiding late payments
The more delinquent your payments are, the higher the fees and interest rates you would be saddled with. Moreover, late payments hurt your credit reputation.
4. Using grace
Many companies offer a 21-day grace period to clients before asking them to pay for purchases. Turn this to your advantage by drawing up a schedule of your purchases and payments.
Use your small business financing credit card prudently. Remember, credit cards should be a financial safety net, not a trap.
According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, UK’s economy has managed to remain robust therefore London’s growing financial district will create more new jobs in 2007 than previously expected.
The job growth in the City of London financial centre that has driven employment to record highs in 2006 is showing signs of cooling off though.
Major investment banks have been hiring steadily in 2006 to take advantage of a surge in M&A and corporate finance activity, plus booming stock and bond markets.
Thanks partly to increasing regulatory demands on financial firms, recruitment could pick up again in 2009, with professional services staff most in demand. CEBR forecast total City of London jobs in 2009 at 336,100, roughly level with 2006s record total.
And even though cross-border mergers and flotations are forecast to continue at a rapid rate, CEBR expects the number of corporate finance jobs to be about 13,500 in 2009, close to current levels.
An official report by internationally renowned management consultants McKinsey has said New York is losing its place to London as the world’s leading financial centre.
Last year, 419 international companies were listed on the London Stock Exchange compared to just 174 in New York.
And this translates into jobs with London’s financial companies taking on more than 12,000 extra people in the last three years.
318,000 people are employed in London’s financial district, while 328,000 employed in NY financial district.
Ian Barlow, a senior partner at accountancy firm KPMG and chairman of Think London, aims to encourage overseas firms to set up in London: “We know that London is a great financial centre.’
“We constantly promote London as a place where the world’s companies can and should do business and we say that every overseas firm, wherever they are based, should set up in London as well.”
With the financial troubles prevalent throughout the US today, many of us face uncertainty in our jobs as well. Today (Sept 15th 2008) the Dow tumbled 500 points, the biggest one day loss in seven years. Merrill Lynch is no more and Lehman Brothers is going bankrupt. Together with the bubble bursting in the housing market and the financial woes of Fannie Mae, these are troubling times indeed.
So I pondered today, how would I react if I lost my job? I have a background in sales, but with the weak dollar and financial problems most Americans face, they simply aren’t buying as much. People were using their housing equity to purchase goods, but that time is now past leaving a rather bleak outlook for sales positions in general.
If I did go back into sales, what would I sell in this economy? Certainly not cars! With gas prices as high as they are, I doubt people are beating down the doors at the local SUV dealer. I would imagine that the home improvement industry is also in trouble so that means selling flooring is out.
I searched around the net and found several articles touting great jobs that don’t require college degrees! My initial excitement waned as I noticed that one article listed an “Airline Pilot” as its first pick. Ok… I’ll just read an e-book on how to fly planes and then I’ll go apply at United Airlines. Becoming an airline pilot may not require a college degree, but I’m sure it requires something that I don’t have, like a pilot’s license and years of experience?!
Another article listed nursing as an option for those without a college degree. Again, nursing may not require a bonafide degree from Harvard College, but I suspect that most hospitals require some sort of training before they will allow you to poke their patients with sharp objects. And I bet that training isn’t cheap nor quick.
Perhaps you have a college degree but jobs requiring your skill set are limited, or have decreased in demand. I know that a lot of poor saps from the mortgage industry are now applying for commission sales jobs paying far below what they’re used to making. My buddy just got a job selling women’s shoes at a department store. He is not happy.
If you do your research and look hard enough, there are actually quite a few jobs out there with the potential to make 40k and up that don’t require college degrees. People will always go out to eat, and the bars will always be packed no matter what the condition of the economy.
Bartending is one option to consider. For people with a sales background bartending can be an easy job to move into. You’re mixing drinks and chatting with people. Aren’t most salespeople good at doing both? And depending where you work, the tips can be very generous.
The food serving industry is also an area where jobs are plentiful. It may not be the glamorous, professional position you’d always pictured yourself in, but the tips can be good and when you need a job fast, it’s always an option.
Personally, if I get laid off I’ll probably go back to school and earn an advanced degree in something like computer science. In the meantime I would do what I had to in order to make ends meet, even if it means a smaller paycheck. If you’re looking for a job don’t lose heart, the economy will turn around eventually. Keep your mind open and look in areas you might not have otherwise considered.