The Secret of Financial Reserve

The Secret of Financial Reserve

A good number of people in very small businesses start their businesses out of passion. This an excellent place to start – assuming there is a need in the marketplace for what you are selling.
When you are deciding to start your business, the absolutely most important question you need to answer is: Is there a market for this? Big companies spend sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars on market research answering that question before introducing a new product. You have a fabulous tool at your disposal that is almost totally free – the internet. That can give you a good start in your research.

The next very important question that requires an answer is: Who is your target market? In other words, who, specifically, will pay for what you are selling? If your answer to this question starts with "Anyone who…" that's not a target and your chances of success are very limited.
If you try to appeal to "Anyone who…", it will be almost impossible to make an emotional connection of any kind or to build any kind of relationship with prospects with your message. What will ultimately happen is you will water down your benefit statements and marketing copy to try to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, which will result in boring, mediocre marketing that leaves no lasting impression on anyone.

One more basic requirement for success in starting a new business is – mo'ney! That really tired statement, "It takes mon'ey to make mon'ey" is actually true. I suggest having at LEAST 24 months of living expenses saved, plus your start-up costs, before starting your business. If you have already committed to it without that kind of savings, you can expect to incur some debt. This is normal!

So, in summary, to start a business, it is important to have a passion, a need in the marketplace for your product/service, a clear, narrow target market and some start-up money. Can you make a success without these? Of course! It is just a lot more challenging!

Options for Generating Money

Ways to Money
There are several financial instruments in life to get ahead. Each has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Understanding the materials in this article will help you to do well financially in life.

Career
Being an employee of someone definitely has its advantages. A fixed and sure salary each month, medical and other benefits make a career worth pursuing. Also, a large corporation offers good advancement opportunities and benefits.
To ensure you do well in a career, you must always cultivate good relationships and a strong network and be prepared to keep learning new things. You may need to switch employers (to move from an SME to an MNC, for example) over the years as you develop your career.
Unfortunately, a career is at the mercy of not only the economy, but also your employers. The dangerous time comes normally when you are in middle-management, when your pay is high and yet redundancy most easily resolved with downsizing (when companies merge or the economy is poor). The years when you are in middle-management also tends to be the years when your expenses are high.

Businesses
The risks in doing a business are great. Statistics indicate that 90% of all businesses fail within the first 5 years due to marketing and cashflow problems. In the next 5 years, another 90% of the remaining businesses will also fail because of cashflow and also because the founder has moved his passion to other things in his life.

Moreover, most if not all businesses have business cycles. Business cycles are natural movements of businesses due to supply and demand. A severe recession can put many businesses into cashflow difficulties and force them to close down.
For a business to really move on to big things, contacts and funds are needed. A person generally cannot start up a big company until some of the big boys are helping. These big boys may come in the form of banks; Venture Capitalists (known as VCs) and angel investors (people who give money for personal accomplishment or who doesn’t mind losing the money).
Unlike a salaried employee, a businessman must be prepared to put in long hours and much effort in running the business at the beginning. He also must be prepared to take losses and money out of his own pocket to finance the business while it is still in its infancy. Business turn out a cash flow at about 18 months on the average, so the businessman must have savings or low expenses to tide out that period of time.

However, once a business system has been set in place and employees trained (and moved or hired to management), the businessman generally finds himself with time to start up another business or branch. The business will more or less sustain itself, with minimal supervision, if the management is good.

Most of the rich (and that means really filthy rich) people on this planet became rich through businesses. The rest are rich because they are royalty or heirs – something the average person cannot really do anything about.

Stock Investments
When a company wants to expand, or the founders want to cash in on their company, they normally offer part of the company for sale. Shares of the company stocks are then created. For many companies, these stocks are traded publicly on a stock exchange, where members of the public can easily purchase them.
Some investment houses also create mutual funds where a manager buys shares and manage the investments on behalf of the members of the public who places their money with them. Shares in these mutual funds can also be traded easily.
The major newspapers (or internet) will publish the price of each stock. The price is normally for a single share in the company. A company may have billions of these shares. An investor will normally simply call up the broker and tells him the number of shares he wants to buy. Some brokerage houses may allow up to 3 days before payment of the shares.

There are two types of stocks generally – growth stocks and income stocks. Growth stocks normally do not pay out part of their earnings to their investors. The only way an investor can gain from them is to wait for their stocks to rise in value and then sell off the stock they own. Most stocks dealing with technology (like Microsoft) are growth stocks.
Income stocks, on the other hand, normally pays out part of their earnings to their investors – either quarterly, semi-annually or annually. These pay-outs are called dividends. Most stocks dealing with food or utilities (like Coca-Cola or SingTel) are income stocks.

The price of a stock is determined by supply and demand. Unfortunately, supply and demand is determined by the human emotions of greed and fear, and can be very unstable, fluctuating from day to day. Good management and business leadership in the company normally makes these fluctuations small and manageable. Occasionally, however, this instability really tips the scale, causing widespread panic or mania. This creates bubbles and crashes that affect the entire stock market.

Real Estate Investments
Everybody needs a place to live or do business in. Some will buy it outright, but there will always be those who does not want to buy. They may be constantly on the move, or may not have the downpayment. The banks may not want to give them a mortgage due to a poor credit history. Or, especially for new business, the long-term stay in the premise may not be certain.
In such cases, there is a market for rental properties. Residential properties are meant for families to live in, while Commercial properties are meant for the conduct of business. Certain areas of the country are preferred (Prime areas) while certain are not so desired (Poor areas). The prices and rentals of the properties reflect that.

Real Estate, however, is considered a heavy investment. The downpayment typically count in the thousands, and a bank normally has to come in to give a loan (called a mortgage) to cover up to 90% of the property price. In addition, the investor has to pay the lawyer’s fees, the broker’s fees (if any), maintenance fees and also property taxes. Maintenance fees and taxes are also collected regularly, as long as the investor owns the property. Also, normally furniture has to be provided for the tenants.

The key to earning a living from real estate investments is to make sure that the rentals can cover the mortgage payments, taxes and maintenance costs. That creates the cashflow for the investment. In addition, over time the investment may appreciate (increase in value) as demand for such properties increase. Of course, if demand decreases, there will be a drop in value.
Just like stock investments, the price of real estate is actually determined by supply and demand. A high demand for certain properties will drive up both its price and its rental, while a low demand will depress its price and rental.

Unlike stocks, however, real estate tends to be more stable. This stability, however, means that it may take much longer to buy or sell real estate. Matching buyers and sellers are not as easy, and it takes time for lawyers to process the necessary documents to transfer the property.
Even with that stability, occasionally the market may experience extreme euphoria or depression, creating real estate market bubbles or crashes.

Conclusion
Everyone of us have unique strengths, weaknesses and comfort stages when using any of the financial instruments to get along in life. We would need to assess carefully everything, before we commit ourselves.