Chase +1SM Student MasterCard

A custom credit card program that
lives on facebook
provides essential financial education
offers Low Intro APR and No Annual Fee
rewards you with Karma Points you can use to get the stuff you want in the Chase +1 store

Apply now for the new Chase +1 credit card

A custom credit card program that

• lives on facebook
  
• provides essential financial education
  
• offers Low Intro APR and No Annual Fee
  
• rewards you with Karma Points you can use to get the stuff you want in the Chase +1 store
  

DID YOU KNOW?

	In this Forex course we will review some steps you need to take care before you venture into your trading journey. Most traders venture into the Forex market with little or no experience in the Forex market. This results in painful experiences like loosing most of the risk capital, frustration because it seemed so easy to make money, etc. The first thing you need to realize is that, it is not easy to make money. As every other endeavor in life, where important rewards are to come after mastering it, you need to work hard. You need to get very well educated and experienced before having the possibility to receive important rewards on it. The key on mastering the Forex market relies on commitment, patience and discipline. Ok, you have decided you are going to trade the Forex market, you have seen several advertisings featuring how easy is to make money in the Forex market. You might think this is your opportunity to reach your financial freedom, right away, time is money, why waiting any longer if you have the opportunity to make money now. I know, I’ve been there, but you have a chance now, I didn’t, no body told me what I am going to tell you. We, Forex traders, make transactions based on a set of rules. These sets of rules are what we call a Trading System. Our systems tell us the exact time where we need to get in the market and out the market in order to make a profit (i.e. buy low sell high.) Creating a system is the first big step you need to take care first. Why is this so important? Because you need to build a system that suits your personality, otherwise you are going to find hard to follow it, thus hard to profit from. A system can be based on technical indicators or what we called a mechanical system or based on experience and intuition or what we call discretionary systems. I highly recommend using and trying first a mechanical system, because discretionary systems are dangerous during the early stages of a Forex trader (can lead to indiscipline.) With experience, on later stages, you will find out which signals work better and which ones to avoid. The next step in this Forex course is to try your system on a demo account. Most Forex brokers offer a demo account, an account with virtual money. This is an excellent choice to test your trading system as there is no money at risk. In this step you will figure out if the strategy works for you. If you feel comfortable trading it, then it is most likely to produce good results. How much time should you stay in this step? It varies, but you shouldn’t go one step further until your system gets consistent profitable results over a period of time. It can take many months, but remember, you need to be patient. You must be honest to yourself; you need to take every single signal generated by your system, not only the signals you thought were going to work, otherwise, you are going to have problems in the next two steps. Ok, by know you had consistent profitable results on your demo account. You might think its time to go full. Nope, nope, nope. There is a big difference between trading a demo and a real account. The most important difference lies on emotions (fear, greed, anger, etc.) These are psychological barriers that affect every single decision made by traders regardless of what he/she is trading (stocks, bonds, Forex, futures, grains, etc.) These emotional factors, in my opinion, are the most determinant factor that separates profitable traders from the others. The next step in this Forex course is specially designed to deal with emotions and to confirm the results obtained in the prior step (consistent results in a demo account.) At this step you need to trade in a real account with limited funds. Some brokers offer fractional lot trading. Meaning you are able to trade any desired amount (even cents.) The important thing here is that these emotions we’ve been talking about are present only when there is real money at risk. At this stage, you are going to see if you are really comfortable trading your system and if you are able to trade with such system, remember different systems produce different emotions. If you are able to produce similar results than those obtained in a demo account, then ready for the next step. If you didn’t, then you might need to create another system, there is chance your system never fit you. If you created consistent profitable results on this stage, you have a chance to produce similar results in the next one, on the other hand, if you didn’t produce good results in this stage, you will not be able to make on the next stage. Remember, you need to do things right, and be honest to yourself. The last stage is trading in a real account with sufficient funds. If you are at this stage, and have passed successfully every prior stage, then you have a chance to make it, go ahead and try it, you need to be confident in yourself and in your system, your strategy have already produced consistent profitable results, there are reasons to believe you are going to make it. Very few traders fail at this stage (if passed successfully prior stages.) Trading successfully is no easy task, it requires a lot of work, patience, discipline, and education. By completing the steps outlined in this Forex course, you have a chance to produce profitable results. I repeat it again, you need to be honest to yourself about the results obtained in every stage. Some times you might need expert guidance regarding your system development strategies.

What is SBA and what kind of loans does it offer to small businesses?

Introduction to SBA.

SBA is an acronym for United States Small Business Administration. SBA was established in the year 1953 under Small Business Act of July 30, 1953 passed by United States Congress. The basic functions and stated concerns of the SBA are to protect, assist, counsel and aid small businesses wherever and however possible under the provisions of the law.

SBA assists small businesses in ways as listed here below out of many of its chartered stipulations. Sample a few of them here.
• Disburses direct business loans
• Guarantees bank and other lender loans
• Issues loans to disaster victims
• Helps small businesses win government procurement contracts
• Provides management and technical advices and training
• Helps them get government contracts and sale of surplus property.
In a nut shell, SBA helps small businesses and families tide over disasters in its mission to strengthen and maintain national economy.

Common types of Loans from SBA for small businesses.

SBA loan programs help deserving small business get financing when they may not be eligible through normal channels if they approached independently. The following common types of loans that are assisted and guaranteed by SBA are made by local lenders and what are known as intermediary lenders. Each loan program is unique in its maximum limit, qualification and other aspects.
• Basic 7(a) Loan program
• Micro Loan 7(m) Loan program
• 504 Loan program, a Certified Development Company (CDC)
• EWCP. The Export Working Capital Program
• LowDoc Loan
• Capline Loan
• Natural disaster recovery loan

The Basic 7(a) Loan program is the most popular of the SBA loan programs yet. This is available for any business need and if you are looking out for a long term repayment plan, this is it. The loan amount needs to be decidedly used for sound business purposes such as real estate purchase or expansion or even renovation, working capital needs and machinery purchases amongst others. The loan term maturity is up to 10 years for working capital loans and for capital expenditure it is up to 25 years if it generates fixed assets, for obvious reasons. 7(a) loan is for start-up and existing small businesses and commercial lending institutions. This is delivered through lending institutions. Maximum limit is $150,000.00 under this program.

The short term and small amounts of loans come under the micro loans program 7(m). The loan extended in this scheme does not exceed $ 35,000.00. The basic condition of this program stipulates the borrower to use the loan proceeds to the purchasing inventory, furniture, fixtures, machinery and equipment or even working capital necessities. Both small businesses and day-care set-ups for children qualify for this loan. This is delivered through designated and experienced non profit lending organizations.

CDC, a 504 loan program is for small businesses needing brick and mortar financing. There are some features unique to this program. This program lends for real estate acquisitions, capital plant and machinery purchases and for expansion and modernization plans of a small business. This loan is essentially made by a private lender with lien and is 100 % funded by SBA secured debenture. If the loan is with a junior lien that covers just up to 40 % of the cost, it needs the borrower to contribute 10 % equity. The CDC loan distributors are usually the certified development companies as the name implies and there are a variety of such CDCs. The loan amount is to the tune of $ 5 millions and it comes with a repayment term of up to 5 years.

The other types of SBA loan programs are designated to help export working capital needs with a view to improve international trade volumes of the business. The LowDoc loan and CapLine loan are other popular types of SBA assisted loans. LowDoc is gaining popularity owing to its simple documentation procedures and log term repayment plan (up to 25 years for loans up to $150,000.00). The CapLine loan is designed to help small businesses tide over cash inflow fluctuations. Though the term of repayment appears to be small (5 years) for a loan of up to $2,000,000.00, it really saves companies from eventual cost over runs and loss of business.

The most important loan that SBA guarantees has a human face. This is not basically designed to save businesses but people struck by natural disasters. The recent example for this generous loan disposition can be seen in a NOV-27th press release by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It urged people that sustained losses due to Hurricane Wilma to apply for assistance. SBA had pledged loans at lowest rates of 2.678 and 4.000 percent for different category people and kept the term up to 30 years.

Eligibility for SBA loans.

Prequalification: SBA analyzes loan requests of up to $250,000 before forwarding it to intermediary lenders. They are scrutinized for the applicants’ experience, credit, reliability and character rather than assets. The intermediary works with the potential borrowers to arrive at decision making under sound economic parameters like key financial ratios, credit and business history, and the loan request terms.

Here are some key criteria:
• You should be a For-Profit Organization
• Owned Independently
• Should not Exceed the Maximum cap-
o Manufacturing - though varies by industry
o Wholesaling - up to 100 employees
o Service - varies as per industry and revenue
• Real Estate (must be commercial)
• You must occupy at least 51% if you are buying a building Must occupy 60% if you are constructing the building

Requirements for the SBA loans.

The documentation that needs to be made along with the loan application:
• Business profile – A description of your business with ownership particulars, annual turn over, number of employees and years in business.
• Loan request – You should include information like how is the loan going to be used, the amount, the purpose etc.
• Collateral
• Business financial statements for three preceding years
• Personal financial statements of all who hold more than 20% stake in the business
• Income statement showing your profits and other key parameters
• Balance sheets for past three years
• Cash flow statement and statement of receivable plus payable amounts giving the break up in stages of 30 days and beyond.

The basis of judgment is the strength and accuracy of your statements and up-to-datedness.

Online SBA loans.

SBA provides online loan counseling to small business owners on topical questions that can vary from a Veteran’s business program to entrepreneurship and innovative strategies for growth etc. Hosts of online counseling are experts in various aspects of small business matters.

Epilogue.

It is not when you need a loan that you approach SBA for SBA means many things to many people. Right from the concept to materialization of your dream business, SBA is with you. Believe me it is the fructification of the mission statement for them at SBA.