The Desert Botanical Garden of Phoenix relies heavily on one critical natural resource: water. For years its plants were nurtured with the same high-demand, potable drinking water running from residents’ taps. The environmental and cost-saving solution: non-potable water from the adjacent Salt River Project canal, offered to the “turf” industry at a 60-percent discount by the … [More]
Creditsafe Grows into West
Creditsafe, the world’s most-used supplier of online company credit reports, has opened a sales center in Tempe. “We wanted to be able to better serve our growing customer base in the west of the country,” says Creditsafe’s president of U.S. operations Matthew Debbage. The fast-growing company, which was founded in 1997 in Oslo, Norway, and set up its first U.S. headquarters in … [More]
Construction Funding on Credit
CreditSuppliers, an Arizona-based liability company, recently developed a FinTech (finance technology) designed for the needs of the construction industry — providing revolving lines of credit to contractors, subcontractors, merchants and suppliers. The new lending platform will provide contractors with Web-based help to jump-start their business and complete development … [More]
Captive Insurance Is a Financial Tool
An option businesses can use in managing their finances is captive insurance. Captive insurance is a separate legal entity — a corporation or limited liability company — that a parent company creates to cover insurable risks in a more cost-effective manner than insuring through a traditional insurance carrier. “It’s generally a wholly owned subsidiary of an existing business … [More]
Move Fast for the R&D Tax Credit Refund
Arizona keeps company with 36 other states in offering an R&D credit, with the distinction of not only offering the largest (24 percent) but also the unique attribute of having a refundable option. It is the refundable aspect that adds an element of urgency to this information, according to Tom Sanger, leader of accounting firm Moss Adams’ R&D tax services practice — … [More]
Millennial Money
The Millennial Generation will not be able to rely on pensions and social security in retirement. Instead, they will have to save and invest in the global stock market to meet their goals. To build wealth, young people must start investing early and buck conventional market wisdom. Millennial Money will explain the most common mistakes that hurt investors’ long-term returns and … [More]
Equity Deduction Window Is Closing
Equipment financing “is an active market,” says Michael Brown, president of Washington Federal’s Equipment Finance Division, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., which has experienced tremendous growth in the six years since the nearly-century-old institution added the product to its portfolio. And this month is ripe to see even more activity in this area in the final weeks before … [More]
How Our Changing Economy Is Shaping Money
Small business is getting its shot at securing loans once again. But in a new regulatory environment, banks are more cautious about getting left holding the bag with bad loans that could come back to haunt them. Even credit unions are facing potential changes in laws that could affect their ways of operating as nonprofits. This makes it more challenging for businesses to get … [More]
Equity-raising Opportunity Exists for Small Businesses
Owners of small businesses may find it easier to raise money in 2013. This is because, among the favorable tax breaks included under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (the “2012 Act”), there is a temporary extension of a provision that excludes 100 percent of gain arising from the sale of certain qualified small business stock (QSBS). This is a benefit small-business owners can … [More]
The Business of Banking Is Banking on Small Business
“In just four years, we’ve seen 15 banks exit the market,” says Paul Hickman, president and CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association. “Between the economy and Dodd-Frank [post-recession federal legislation regulating banks], many banks have reached a tipping point.” The business of banking is changing significantly. New federal laws and fewer banks — particularly mid-size … [More]
$10,000 Gold
$10,000 Gold is far more than a financial book. It is a tool of survival and prosperity. It leads the reader to a deeper understanding by showing the global economic and demographic trends that support a rational prediction for gold’s future value. $10,000 Gold advocates ownership of physical, uncompromised bullion and explains the benefits of a safe haven that has preserved … [More]
The Alternative Answer
Bob Rice, Bloomberg TV’s alternative investment editor, leads an entertaining and easy-to-understand tour of this world and suggests specific alternative investments for all four key “jobs” of a portfolio: safely generating more current income, decreasing risks of economic shocks, significantly increasing long-term profits and protecting purchasing power over time. A rainbow of … [More]
Happy Money
Anyone who thinks money can’t buy happiness is not spending it right. Two rising stars in behavioral science explain how money can buy happiness. Happy Money offers a tour of new research on the science of spending. Most people recognize that they need professional advice on how to earn, save and invest their money. When it comes to spending that money, most people just follow … [More]
Loan Modification May Be Option if Loan Is Current
As the economy slowly turns itself around for many, small businesses that have been hanging on even if struggling may have more financing options available to them than they’re aware of. For a business to be able to get any concessions from a bank, however, it’s imperative that it start talking to the bank before getting behind in payments on its business loans. That goes … [More]
Critical Time Window for Federal Energy Efficiency Tax Incentives
The IRS tax code that provides federal tax incentives on energy improvement investments, §179D, expires at the end of 2013. While energy efficiency upgrades need to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013, to qualify, opportunities exist in two areas: accelerating future projects into 2013 and reviewing projects dating back to Jan. 1, 2006, that resulted in energy savings. Either of … [More]
Local Bank Offers Import/Export Financing
Businesses are increasingly involved in export commerce, but loans on their foreign receivables are not as readily available as on domestic receivables. “That restricts the amount a business can leverage,” says Greg Lehmann, managing director of Biltmore Bank of Arizona, explaining the decision is made from a risk standpoint. Helping to fill that void, Biltmore Bank recently … [More]
Wealth Management: How to Prosper in the New Economy
After four years of government polices like the zero-down-payment initiative, the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit, the American Dream Downpayment Initiative and other questionable mortgage and financial innovations, the housing bubble burst. While debate continues on the causes of the Great Recession, the popping of the $8 trillion housing bubble was instrumental in … [More]
Financial Statements: The Crucial Monthly Close
How is your business doing lately? As an owner, you probably have a sense of how things are going, but is it right? While I have developed a great respect for an owner’s “gut feel” over my 40 years of consulting, there are many illusions and counter-intuitive aspects to business that can mislead owners. A common counter-intuitive illusion is that if sales are increasing, things … [More]
