Financial Planning for Those Who Hate To
Many “hands-on” employees and small-business owners are way more into the production, sales and distribution of their products or services than they are into the financial end of the business. They leave the tasks of managing money and paying bills to others; hopefully those who are honest and won’t get them in trouble.
It’s Your Money – Protect It!
When I first started in business I received two kinds of advice from people who seemed to genuinely want to help me succeed; there was the good and the not-so-good. Some of the good advice was on how to handle the money I would take in from doing sales. This may sound like a strange topic to discuss, one that we all should somehow have been born knowing, but we weren’t. Even the most experienced of shop owners can make costly mistakes when it comes to handling their money.
Rich or Poor, It’s Nice to Have Money!
When you have money, you’re in control. When you don’t, other people are in control of you. You work because you owe. That is never a comfortable position to be in. Cash is king. When you have it and others don’t, you can compete on a higher plane.
Why Don’t They Make Any Money?
I spent the past two evenings presenting an advanced sales seminar and one on figuring the cost of doing business to a group of owners and managers of transmission and general-repair shops. One shop owner showed up with his entire crew – a service writer and three technicians. As I was speaking with him after class, he told me that his main reason for bringing them all was to show them where the money is supposed to be made, how it gets paid out and what’s supposed to be left over as profit. He also wanted them all to realize that everyone in the shop eventually comes into contact with customers in one way or another, meaning that they all play a role, no matter how small, in making the sale.
Retirement – Will You Outlive Your Money?
People are living far longer than the Congress and Senate leaders thought they would when they drafted the Social Security Act. Back then people were lucky to reach even 65 years of age. Many were not likely to go beyond collecting their first few years’ worth of payments. Now we live into our 70s and 80s. That’s one reason Social Security is running short of money. Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman, mentioned in a recent speech that we may have to cut back Social Security or make the retirement age higher. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people in their 30s and possibly 40s never get to benefit from the program.
