Purchase Order Financing Tips and Secrets for Canadian Firms Seeking Trade Finance

Your worst business nightmare just occurred. You got the order/contract! Now what?!Purchase order financing is a great tool for firms that have unusual purchase order and contract sales financing needs but are potentially unable to access traditional financing via banks or their own capital resources within their firm. How does trade finance P O financing work, does your firm qualify, what are the costs, and how does it work? Great questions, now let’s explore some answers!Typically Canadian firms looking for this type of financing are distributors, manufacturers, or perhaps wholesalers. A variety of industries in Canada have access to this type of financing, but those certainly tend to be the typical firms needing assistance.Your need for purchase order financing arises out of what we call the classic working capital gap. What do we mean by that? It’s a case of your suppliers requiring payment either up front or within 30 days, with your firm unable to generate those funds for payment and therefore unable to fill large purchase order and contracts in your favor. Your supplier is asking your for payment in advance or 30 days, and you wont receive payment for at least 60-90 days, perhaps more depending on your build cycle, etc.Naturally you don’t want to turn down orders or lose competitive market position.The obvious solution for low cost large amounts of funds are Canadian chartered banks, but our observation is that many firms simply cant satisfy the banks requirements for this type of financing to occur. If your firm is growing, profitable, has a clean balance sheet and strong historical cash flows and history you of course have a solid chance of meeting bank requirements, however that typically is not the case, certainly in the amount of clients we talk to who are looking for alternatives to their growth challenge!When you access p o financing you can have comfort that your suppliers will be paid, and at the same time you generally have access to all the funds you need. Typical purchase order financing applications take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to complete and involve basic financial due diligence on your firms ability to fulfill the order, who your customer is (they must be credit worthy), and your proper supplier sources must be identified and vetted. It’s as simple as that.So what are the basic pre requisites for a solid P.O. Financing deal? Naturally your company must be in possession of a contract or order that is not cancelable by your client. The P O finance firm arranges to pay your suppliers directly, that alleviates all you cash flow and working capital concerns. The transaction is completed when you ship the goods and your receivables are generated on the sale. It is at this time the purchase order finance firm expects to be paid, and this is traditionally handled by your firms monetizing of its receivable via a bank or factoring facility. Factoring facilities are great partners to the P O financing strategy, because use of them guarantees payment to your P O firm.Let’s cover off a couple tips and secrets around the cost of purchase order financing – It generally is in the 2-3% per month range in Canada, and that means you have to have solid gross profit margins in order to be able to sustain the finance charges. But let’s be honest, let’s say your firm has been doing 750k of revenue for the last couple years and you finally get the large order from a major customer for 1 Million dollars. Wouldn’t you give up 2-3 % of your profit margin in order to make one sale which is the equivalent of your entire year’s business? We think you should positively consider that! Clearly the higher cost of this type of financing covers off the complexity and risk that the P O finance firm takes in paying for goods, waiting to get paid, and having the belief that your firm will fulfill the contract order.It has been our observation with certain clients that your successful completion of a purchase order finance deal typically significantly enhances your relationship with your major suppliers and of course customers, that’s a secret benefit that is intangible but invaluable at the same time.Is P O financing for everyone. Maybe not. Could it be possibly the solution to major working capital needs if your business is growing and can’t be financed traditionally – we certainly think so? Speak to a trusted, credible and experienced purchase order finance expert to explore your options.

In House Financing Programs Making A Comeback

In House Financing is making a comeback in the Canadian market. When I first entered the car business in 1995 there were very few options for people who had credit issues such as bankruptcy, written off accounts, judgements or collections to be able to obtain financing for a reliable vehicle. I was lucky enough to work for a dealership that had an in house leasing company and we were able to sell cars to these people before the sub prime lenders came on the scene.Over the past several years there have been many companies come into the Canadian automotive financing market to fill the need for most of these customers. They are relatively large national and international financing companies. They have signed the majority of the dealerships across the country to refer business to them. In 2005 there were no fewer than 7 such companies doing business all across the country with many others doing business in certain markets in the country. At the time of writing this article in 2010 there are only 4 remaining and they have tightened up on their lending practices because there is less competition in the marketplace. Of note the 3 sub prime lenders that were doing business all across Canada that are no longer in the marketplace were international lenders with 2 or the 3 based in the United States. When the financial crisis occurred in America we lost them due to their parent companies consolidating their operations into the United States.It has been this tightening up of lending practices that is beginning to make a need for In House Financing at the dealership level once again. Today there are more and more clients who have credit problems and are in need of special financing solutions as they no longer qualify for financing from the mainstream sub prime lenders.Many car dealerships are growing tired and frustrated at spending a lot of time and money in advertising to get customers into their dealerships to sell them a car just to have the lenders turn their customer down. It has been this frustration that has led many of them to take another look at an old concept and begin financing these customers themselves. So slowly but surely there are In House Financing, In House Leasing and Buy Here Pay Here programs starting to pop up all across the country to service this new marketplace.There is very little difference in the various financing programs from a consumer point of view. They all work basically the same way. You have to give them a down payment that the dealers require to offset the risk they are taking in financing these type of high risk clients. Most of the down payments range between $500 – $2000 and are either used as money down on the loan in the case of In House Finance and Buy Here Pay Here programs. The out of pocket money is used as a security deposit and first payment in most In House Leasing programs. The security deposit can be used to buy out the lease at the end of the term without having to come up with any money out of your pocket at that time. No matter what the money you give the dealership is called, by the end of the term it is used to pay down on your vehicle.The other major difference in these programs is how the vehicle is registered by the Registry of Motor Vehicles in your province. With the In House Financing programs the vehicle is registered in your name on the registration and a chattel mortgage is placed on the vehicle at the Registry of Deeds in your province. The chatel mortgage make it possible to repossess your vehicle if you default on the loan the same way a bank or finance company can. With the In House Leasing programs the vehicle is registered in the name of the leasing company with you being registered as the plate owner of the vehicle. The Buy Here Pay Here programs are usually run by a smaller dealership and they sometimes register a chalet mortgage the same as the In House Financing Programs but often they get the customer to register the vehicle in their name and then return to the dealership with the ownership paper and sign it over to the dealership. This way if the customer defaults on the loan the dealer simply registers the vehicle back into their name and repossess it from the customer. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter which program you choose to use if you don’t make the payments they will repossess your car but if you make your payments you will not have any problems. Remember all of these dealerships are interested in you keeping your vehicle. They are usually understanding if you are going to be a couple days late with your payment as long as you let them know beforehand and make arrangements to get caught up right away.These dealers live in the areas they work in and are usually very helpful and are willing to work with you. Most of these dealerships require that you place full coverage insurance on your vehicle but some of the smaller Buy Here Pay Here dealers will allow you to just have basic car insurance because the vehicles they sell are usually fairly inexpensive and full coverage insurance just doesn’t make sense.The hardest thing about financing a vehicle through these dealers is usually finding them. With so many dealerships advertising Guaranteed Auto Approvals, Bad Credit – No Credit Car Financing and the like but most of them do not have any options for you if you are declined by the national finance companies. You end up spinning your wheels looking for a dealer who will work with you causing you to either give up or get frustrated and buy a cheap car privately with whatever money you can come up with.

Online Car Loan Lenders Have No Match!

Online Car Loan lending has many advantages over traditional financing and dealership financing that makes it the most attractive and beneficial financial option for those seeking credit to purchase a new or used vehicle. Learn why it is to your advantage to apply for a car loan with an online car loan lender.

Traditional Lenders and Car Dealerships

Traditional lenders offer car loans to people with good to perfect credit scores and provide fixed amounts for purchasing new vehicles. These pre-defined car loans are created for mass consuming and offer little flexibility. It is not always easy for any consumer to meet the credit and income requirements needed to get approved for a car loan with banks and traditional lending institutions.

Car dealerships also have a lot of limitations. Though the loans are specifically designed for purchasing their cars, your options are restricted; you can only get finance for purchasing new cars or used cars that they handle. The monthly payments will be high because they include additional charges and higher interest rates. Besides, if you want to purchase a vehicle directly from the owner, you can’t resort to car dealership financing.

Online Lending Benefits

Online car loan lenders, on the other hand, provide many benefits that can’t be ever matched by traditional lenders and car dealerships. For starters, online car loan lenders offer a wide variety of car loans that can be tailored to your needs so anyone can obtain finance for purchasing the car of their dreams.

Bad credit and no credit are not a problem for online car loan lenders since they are specialized in dealing with people with credit and income problems. There are no limitations as to the loan amount as long as you can meet the monthly payments. Besides, you can purchase the car you want and if the price is high, you can always get lower monthly payments by extending the flexible repayment programs that online car loan lenders provide.

The interest rate charged by online car loan lenders is always lower than that of car dealerships and lower than traditional lender’s loans with similar loan types. Car loans for people with bad credit and no credit, charge slightly higher interest rates but traditional lenders do not provide this kind of loans.

Most importantly, you can purchase the car you want. If you’ve found a car from a private lender that wants no intermediaries and you need finance, you can apply for an online car loan and chances are you’ll easily get approved regardless of your credit. If you have a steady income you have nothing to worry about.

Fast Auto Loan Financing Lets You Get Better Deals!

A need for fast auto loan financing isn’t always a sign of impatience. Getting a car loan quickly saves you thousands when buying a car. Walk into a dealership or third party sale with financing already lined up and you have the advantage in bargaining for a better deal and to act fast on it.

Online Fast Auto Loan Financing

Today’s best source for fast auto loan financing is the Internet with all the advantages of a traditional lender like no application fee, no down payment and negotiating ability of having cash in hand. Then there are additional advantages of an online service like easy application, nearly instant approval, 24-hour online access to your account and a money-saving automatic payment option. But the best is their interest rates being 1 to 2% lower than the national average.

Before making a commitment for an online auto-financing loan, consider the additional requirements. If you’re buying a classic car or motorcycle, loan products are limited, with more restrictions. Also online lenders are reluctant to fund loans under $7,000 or over $75,000.

Bad Credit Can Be An Issue

For fast auto loan financing online, credit problems are more of an issue than with dealerships. But credit problems can be overcome with lenders offering higher risk loans. These have more restrictions and slightly higher rates.

First of all decide on your figures. How much exactly are you willing to pay, how much do you give for down payment, how much per month? Be realistic in these assessments to accurately compare financing options.

Eventually the monthly maintenance and annual fee will end up costing you more than you want for credit. If you want a card, look for one that has one of the two but not both. To be better organized, make a quick comparison chart with the card names, set up fees, interest rates (variable or fixed), monthly and annual fees. Mention also if a single late payment can lead to increased interest rate. Cards may be expensive but worth reestablishing your credit with, if you look for the best deal around.

Differences On Interest Rates

With these issues settled, decide where you’ll find the best terms. As a general rule, the best interest rates are from credit unions, followed by banks and dealerships being the worst. As per specific promotions, dealerships and online auto financing establishments can also offer competitive rates.

Next, comes applying for the loan. Apart from information on the car, most lenders will inquire about income and expenses. Ensure you keep rent documentation, house payments, pay stubs, tax returns and other sources of income and assets with you.

There’s a world of difference between used auto financing and new car financing. While the former makes better deals than the latter, it doesn’t apply to used car financing there are quick loan finance available as well. Used cars being less profitable for lenders and more risky, there are a lot more restrictions and higher rates than new car loans.

Car Finance Options and Solutions

Because most people don’t have cash to buy new cars, it is often a choice between leasing and using an auto loan. We will further analyze the benefits of each type of car finance option. The choice that you make will heavily affect your income over the next years. The first thing you should realize is that the decision of buying with cash or lease doesn’t involve just the money aspect, but the time aspect as well.

The car finance option you choose depends on the importance you give to owning a new car. If you value having the latest models on the market, then this will justify spending more money on this privilege. If your view of a car is orientated towards transportation and comfort (you want a car for practical reasons), then owning the newest model should take a few steps back on your priority list. You should think about these facts first and then consider the more tangible issues of car finance options.

The car finance deal that you are going to make starts when the salesperson asks you what kind of car finance option you want to use. Your answer can be one of the following: buy the car, lease the car or pay cash for the car.

If you want to buy the car, the dealer will ask you to fill in a credit application based on your credit scores. An auto loan will be arranged through the dealership. This car finance option usually is a 36-60 month endeavor. The longer the time the lower the payments will be. The amount of money you pay for this car finance option depends on your interest rate, down payment and total sum of loan. Also be careful, as the dealer will want you to make a large down payment. This car finance deal is based on the fact that, until you pay for the vehicle, the lending institution will own the car. The car’s ownership papers will be sent to you after all payments have been made.

There are some important aspects about car leasing that make it attractive to customers, such as: low monthly payments, low down payments and low maintenance costs. The main advantage is that a customer will get a car without giving too much money at once. The monthly payments are kept at a low level, lower than buying car with an auto loan. Another benefit of this car finance option is that the car will have a 3 year warranty and will be covered for mechanical failure during this period. As you can see by now, this looks very attractive and affordable by anyone, but there is a slight disadvantage (the same as in the case of a loan). You will have car payments until the entire sum of the car is paid. Only when you do this, the car will finally be yours.

From this point on the car finance deal will be over and if you have to begin leasing again the assumed responsibility of payment rates will last a long period of time again. The conclusion is that this car finance option (using the leasing method) is more expensive on a long term. Car leasing is actually the most expensive way to go, but those who favor it point out that over a 10 year period this car finance method is the best the average income customer can support.

If you are interested in leasing, this car finance option has some variations. All auto leases allow you to drive the car for a limited number of miles per year. The more you drive, the higher your payments will be. However, if you come to think of it, you save money in the long run. The contract will contain a residual price for the car, which you will pay at the end of the lease as the car passes into your possession. Be careful because this is the riskiest car finance deal of them all!

If you decide to pay cash for the car the transaction everything will be very simple. This is the most favorable car finance deal if your income can support such a large transaction. Negotiating with the dealer will most likely make this car finance option even more attractive. Choose wisely as every car finance offer has its own ups and downs, and every car finance company will try to persuade you into taking their option into account.

When buying a car, a lot of money is involved. Depending on the budget you are willing to spend there will be a car finance option to your liking. A compromise has to be made: one can either spend a lot at once, or spend a greater sum during a longer period of time. Your car finance option will affect your pocket anyway; it’s just a matter of how much money will be given in how much time.

Benefits of Financing Your Business Equipment

The advantages of financing are greater than ever. Any business or organization can benefit from these advantages which include reduced costs, simplified budgeting, credit preservation and flexibility. When it is time for your business to make a financing decision, equipment financing allows you to take full advantage of business opportunities while enjoying critical flexibility and investment protection.

More for Your Money

Many businesses struggle with the need to grow while feeling constrained by a lack of capital. What so many business owners don’t know is that equipment financing can increase your buying power and decrease your expenses. When you finance rather than use working capital, you can afford a more complete solution while making lower monthly payments and paying little or no up-front costs. This leaves your working capital intact while allowing for the needed growth.

The larger the business acquisition, the greater the benefits of financing. For large-scale projects financing can mean the difference between making those changes now and putting them off indefinitely. Putting off necessary changes often means taking your business out of a competitive market position – a position that can be difficult to regain.

Critical Business Advantage

As the business landscape changes on a daily basis, it can be imperative for your own business to adapt and grow to match the market. This is especially true for software and services that are vital but can have large up-front costs. Unfortunately, there are many companies that lack – or think that they lack – the resources required to purchase all of the equipment needed to keep their businesses productive.

Financing can expedite this business transformation by letting you add necessary service capacity, reduce the risk of your technology becoming obsolete and can decrease the total cost of ownership. Equipment financing can provide flexible payment options tailored to your specific budget requirements or timed to match your benefit streams, enabling your company to afford all of the components necessary to maintain a competitive business edge.

Speeding Up Your Business

Other obstacles to keeping businesses moving ahead at an effective pace can include budget constraints and the lack of capital. But emerging markets and those ever present competitors won’t wait for you to catch up. Financing those business purchases means that a lack of capital doesn’t have to cripple your business endeavors.

Equipment financing enables companies to quickly adapt to changing competitive environments, and any business strategy should include access to flexible and competitive financing options. Take some time to research equipment financing companies. The good financing programs offer customers competitive, flexible financing solutions for acquiring hardware, software and any other equipment that your business might need.

Competitive Advantage

It is a simple fact that business solutions are becoming obsolete faster than ever. A customer-focused equipment financing program provides flexible, cost-effective solutions that can help you acquire the technological components that you need to migrate to new business models and to maintain your competitive edge including software applications. This benefit can help ensure that your business never faces the specter of business obsolescence.

You should consider taking advantage of the flexibility that financing offers if your business is in the market for new equipment. This flexibility can help you stay ahead of the technology curve, and ahead of the competition.

A Hedge Against Inflation

With an economy that may seem less than stable, it is important that businesses, especially newer businesses, take advantage of every opportunity that gives them protection against tough economic times. Postponing growth is not necessarily the best way to protect your business as it can result in a loss of customers if you can’t offer them the services that they need or want.

When growth becomes a necessity, equipment financing can allow you to grow the way that you need without making your financial base less stable. The right equipment financing program not only gives you the access to capital that you need for growth but it could also lock in the rates for the loan. This means that you won’t have to worry about your rates falling victim to inflation… ever!

Don’t Fear Financing

The business world can be cutthroat. That’s no secret. So in the quest to keep your own business competitive or to grab a bigger share of the market, don’t let the lack of capital inhibit your plans. It would be nice if we could all expand using only the capital at hand, but that is simply not realistic. Equipment financing can be a very valuable tool and one that offers many benefits. It should not be feared. There are plenty of financing programs available that offer flexible and tailored terms to fit your needs. Do your homework and you will find a lender that will work with you rather than against you. In the long run, that financing could be the most valuable weapon in your business arsenal.

Finance – More Than Number Crunchers

If you were to dissect the culture of a business, and you ask various people in an organization what the real roles of each department are, you’ll find the well-known dichotomy between “front office” and “back office” operations.

Front office staff are the people who deal with customers. They might be the customer service department, the sales department, and sometimes the marketing department (depending on how involved the marketing department is in the sales cycle). Back office staff are usually the admin assistants, HR, and the killjoy of all businesses – the Finance department.

In businesses I’ve observed, Finance departments often face silent derision or disrespect. Part of it is an us-versus-them mentality that comes out of the front office staff who feel their jobs are more difficult because they deal with customers (compared to Finance, who deal with numbers). And no one from the front office sends memos to the back office saying “please spend less time crunching the numbers” but it can feel like the back office is constantly memo-ing the front office with “watch this expenditure” or “spend less on client lunches”.

Unfortunately, this view is supported by management at all levels that give Finance the nasty job of accounts receivable, the inputting-heavy job of accounts payable, and the dull job of budget forecasting. Compared to the highly creative marketing department and the edge-of-the-seat, in-the-trenches feeling of the sales department, finance is like the broccoli side dish on a plate of steak and fries.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Finance departments shouldn’t be relegated to the back office in the hopes that their sharp pencils won’t poke a customer in the eye! Finance departments can and should play a far more important role in the organization. Here are some ideas:

POSSIBILITY 1: Finance should be more about business strategy than number prophecy. When the Finance department hounds the sales managers to get in their budgets and then turns them around for a final target budget for the year, their role is reduced to mere numerical interpreter. But what if Finance sat down with sales and talked to them about how their numbers connected to expected outcomes? And then, what if Finance sat down with the executives of the company and actually worked out a forecast that was tied to what the market was anticipating! Imagine a world where Finance’s numbers were more than just a spreadsheet that gets pulled out at every quarterly review.
POSSIBILITY 2: Finance should be more about opportunity. Many sales managers have some limited view into which customers are sending business. But the view isn’t always perfect. Or complete. Finance should get involved to show how a customer is really impacting the business’ bottom line. If Finance and Sales talked to each other, Sales might be shocked to discover that their biggest client is actually less valuable than expected because of the amount of work involved in keeping them as clients, or they might discover that a seemingly profitable client isn’t profitable at all because their receivables get very, very old. Imagine a world where the Finance department can relate true business impacting information to Sales to tell them which opportunities are truly the most profitable.
POSSIBILITY 3: Finance should be selling, too. When Finance gets the job of following up on accounts receivables, they can potentially do more harm than good. Finance people are highly skilled at numbers, and they might be good “people-oriented” staff, but they are rarely trained in the art of sales. However, when a Finance person, tasked with accounts receivables, gets adequate training in receivables AND customer service AND sales, their success rate at getting the receivables paid can increase, but so will their success rate at winning more business.
There are so many more opportunities, too. Businesses should be using their accounts payable list as a prospecting list. They should be temporarily swapping roles between Finance and Sales for brief “see-how-the-other-side-does-it” days to enable new appreciation and new connections. Finance should sit in on sales calls to see why Sales sometimes feels like they need to bend the rules to close the deal (and Sales should shadow the work of Finance so they know what work needs to happen at the back-end if they don’t assess risk adequately during the sale).
The bottom line for businesses should not be derived from a cloistered Finance department. Instead, a business can uncover new and exciting opportunities when it makes its Finance department an integral part of the entire business.

How to Start a Blog or Niche Website And Make Money

In 2021, due to lockdowns and mandates, more people than ever before began to look for ways to earn money working from home. In particular, many looked at blogging as an online business. The problem though, was that many of them didn’t really know how to make money from a blog. So just how can it be done?

Keep reading and I’ll go through 3 steps that you need to take to become an online blogger.

First, you need to find the right niche to work in. You need to find a “hungry market,” people who are looking for information to read and looking for products to buy.

It also needs to be a niche that you’re interested in because you’ll be writing a lot of blog posts about it.

Once you know what you’ll be blogging about, you then need to create a blog. This is simple to do using all the blogging software available. You can even set up a blog for free through platforms such as Google’s own Blogger service. Blogger has been around for years and is used by many successful bloggers, including me.

Once you’ve set up your blog, fill it with useful content, products to sell, and onsite advertising for extra income. Some bloggers earn thousands this way, selling products online as affiliates, and earning money through PPC advertising.

Once you get enough pages set up, it’s time to market your blog to get as many visitors as possible. And if you have an email subscription box on your blog, you can stay in touch with all those who sign up.

Marketing can be paid for, or can be done for free through social media and article directories. When you’re first starting out, it’s better to use free marketing, although you can go ahead and pay for it if you want to and if you already have the funds. Personally, I’ve never paid for online advertising for any of my website and blogs. Perhaps I’m leaving money on the proverbial table by marketing this way, but my online success over the years has been good without it.

And that’s the 3 steps you need to take. Choose your niche, set up a blog, join an affiliate network to find products to promote, and market your blog in as many places as you can to get thousands visitors. Just make sure you’re marketing in the right places to get the right kind of visitors.

So what are you waiting for?

Get your own money-making blog set up and running today.

5 Areas Where Interest Rates Matter!

Although, we hear, a lot of opinions, about, interest rates, and their trends, and impacts, very few people seem to understand, the significance, and importance/ relevance, of these rates, in several areas of our lives! After, many decades of involvement, in political campaigns, leadership, leadership training/ planning, real estate, financial sales and consulting, etc, I strongly believed, one benefits, by understanding, more about these, and how they affect, many things, in our lives! Whether, related to personal, organizational, and/ or, public finance/ spending, home ownership and related costs, credit – related issues, business matters, stock and bond pricing, etc, interest rates, truly, significantly, matter! With, that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, 5 of these areas, and how the cost – of – money, makes a significant difference.

1. Bond prices and interest rates: The price of a bond, generally, is inversely – related to interest rates! When these rates go down, prices, rise, and when they go up, the inverse occurs! Bonds have, what is known, as, a par – value, which is the price, paid, at the end of the term. Markets usually set these at 100, which represents $1,000 per bond, at maturity. However, during the period, the pricing can rise or fall, which impacts, liquidity – related issues!

2. Mortgage rates: For the last few years, we have been witnessing and experiencing, record – low, mortgage interest rates, which have helped the overall, real estate/ housing market, especially, in terms of, pricing increases! In most areas of this country, we are seeing, home prices, at their highest levels, ever, by a significant, dramatic amount! When this rate, is low, a home buyer is able to buy, more – house – for – his – bucks, because, his monthly payments, are so low! Consider, however, what might be the potential ramifications, and impacts, when these rates, will, inevitably, rise?

3. Consumer credit: Low costs of borrowing, help the automobile industry, in terms of consumer financing, etc! Although, not as much as other vehicles, rates on credit card debt, are lower, and there are often, shorter – term, promotions, offering deals! However, since, most of these are variable, and based, on some index, etc, what happens, when there is an increase, in this?

4. Business borrowing: Another area affected, is business cost of borrowing! Presently, they have had access, to relatively, cheap – money, which helps in reducing the costs of borrowing, overall operations, purchasing inventory, etc. But, what happens, when this, ticks – up?

5. Impacts on stock market prices: For some time, because bonds have paid so little, in terms of dividends, etc, many have considered, the stock market, the only game, in – town! In addition, many corporations, have seemed, better – off, than they probably are, and we have witnessed, a higher, ratio of prices to profits, than in the past! How long will this last? How high can it go?

Many factors impact these issues, especially: actual and/ or, perceived inflation; consumer confidence; politics/ government actions/ the Federal Reserve, etc. The more you know, and understand, hopefully, the better – prepared, you will be!