Financing a Business

Financing is an integral part to getting your business off the ground and growing it over time. That's why SBA has provided several free online courses to help you become familiar with your financing options, including an introduction to accounting, a guide to SBA’s Loan Guaranty Programs, and an overview on how to prepare a loan package.

• Podcasts

  SBA business financing podcasts offer expert insight and guidance about your business money matters. Financing podcasts offer advice on topics ranging from traditional loans to grants, bonds and investor-based venture capital. ...

• Online Courses for Financing Your Business
  Knowledge about the finances of your business is essential to its success. About These Courses Several free online courses are offered by the SBA to help prospective and existing entrepreneurs understand basic finance and...
• SBA Delivering Success: Financing
  The U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Postal Service bring you Delivering Success—video interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share the lessons they've learned about owning a small business. The...
• SBA Low-Interest Disaster Loans
  Following a disaster, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) partners with FEMA to help disaster survivors. The SBA offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes.

Limited Company Formation – Know the Process

Limited company Formation is easier then you think and can be done very quickly. The main reason a business owner would want to form a limited company would be that the company is then seen as an independent entity. The first thing you need to consider is the structure of your limited company there are three different types.

Limited Company Formation: Types

• Private company, limited by shares: This is the standard type of company entails limited liability for the shareholders and owners.
• Private company, limited by guarantee: This is a less common type of company and is guaranteed by its members, rather than through share capital.
• Public limited company: This type of company requires that the amount to be paid on shares be borne by the shareholders and is publicly traded on the stock market.

The process of forming a limited company

There are 6 steps involved in forming your company there are providers that will do this for you but if you are going to do it all yourself these are the steps.

• Choose your name you can use companies house webcheck to see if the name is available remember this is the name you are going to have for your company and once brand is established it will be more difficult to change.
• Complete Forms 10 and 12. These can be downloaded from companies house website. If you register electronically which is going to be for all companies in the near future you do not need to submit Form 10.
• Sign these Forms and get all directors and if exists secretary’s to sign also.
• Submit the Memorandum of Association this outlines your  type of business and undertakings.
• Sign and submit the Articles of Association these outline duties, shareholdings and the rights of all parties involved in the management of the business.
• Pay the fee and submit your documents.

Now that you have formed your company it does not end there. You now have to start putting in place your bookkeeping and accounting practices as you will need to file annual returns which include your accounts.

7 Free Apps That Saved Us an Instant $68.14

You paid a lot for your iPhone, so why not use it to earn back some of that dough?

Here are seven apps -- all free -- that can save you hundreds of dollars a year. We took them for a test drive and slashed our shopping tab by nearly $70.
Price Check: Ever wonder if you're getting the best deal? There are quite a few apps that promise to scan barcodes and compare prices, but this one is by far the easiest I've used. You can scan a barcode, take a photo, or even just say a product's name, and Price Check will find matches at Amazon.com and any of its hundreds of partners. If the app turns up a better price, just click to buy and save.

Sample savings: A hardcover book selling for $25.99 at Target was just $14.75 at Amazon.
Key Ring: Store loyalty cards often mean serious savings, especially at grocers and drugstores. But the resulting bulge in my wallet from all that plastic means I increasingly turn down offers for new ones, leaving money on the table. Enter Key Ring. It scans and stores all your loyalty cards so they're always just a tap away.
Sample savings: $3 off my cats' favorite brand of food at Petco.
Amazon Deals: For the uninitiated, Amazon (AMZN) offers up one huge "Deal of the Day" and a half-dozen or so "Lightning Deals" every day, good for just a few hours each. These deals often mean massive savings on items like printers, HDTVs, cameras, video games, and more. The problem? The discounts are so good that the deals often sell out. Amazon Deals comes to the rescue with a simple app that alerts you to current and upcoming offers, and lets you buy current deals instantly or get a text reminder for future ones.
Sample savings: $12.55 (33%) off a surge protector, $30 (41% off) a pair of high-tech ear buds.

Gas Buddy: This ingenious app uses your location to display the prices at every nearby gas station, thanks to fellow users who update prices regularly. (In my area, they're usually current within an hour or two.) The first time I used it, I saved $3.60 simply by skipping the station across from my house and stopping at one a little further along my regular route.
Sample savings: $3 less per tank.
Grocery iQ: Every once in a while, I try to clip coupons to save a little cash, but inevitably, I never have them with me when I need them. Grocery iQ has the solution: Add coupons directly to your grocery store savings card! That way, they're applied instantly at checkout. The app does some other cool things, too: You can scan items as you run out of them to add them to a shopping list; organize your list by store and aisle; and print additional coupons directly from your phone. The selection of stores participating in the savings card portion is somewhat limited (developers promise they're adding more all the time), but if yours is included, this app is a must.
Sample savings: $0.75 off ice cream, $2 off multivitamins.

Groupon: Until recently, I didn't quite get the immense popularity of Groupon. You had to keep track of which deals you'd bought and remember to use them before they expired. That's easier said than done for this busy mom of two. But thanks to the genius combination of Groupon's instant deals with its mobile app, I'm now a Groupon groupie. Using your location, Groupon will point you to deals close by. A recent search turned up three restaurant offers within walking distance of our offices, plus a handful of salon and shopping choices.
Sample savings: $5 for $10 worth of food at a favorite lunch spot.
Yard Sale Mapper: If you're a fan of garage and yard sales, this is the app for you. Pulling from Craigslist and newspaper listings, Yard Sale Mapper displays all the sales in your area by day. Simple yet indispensible for the true bargain hunter.

Obama nominates Ohio's ex-attorney general to lead consumer bureau

President Obama nominated Richard Cordray to run the consumer bureau on Monday

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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- President Obama nominated Richard Cordray on Monday to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent agency set to launch on Thursday.
"I look forward to working with Richard Cordray as this bureau stands up on behalf of consumers all across the country," Obama said Monday in an address from the Rose Garden.
Cordray, 52, works as the chief enforcement officer for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in Washington. But Cordray made a name for himself among consumer groups and Ohio Democrats in politics.
As Ohio's attorney general, Cordray filed lawsuits against the big banks -- accusing them of hiding losses from employee pension funds and improperly foreclosing on homeowners.
"He is a former Democratic state attorney general who was known for aggressively going after banks," said Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst for MF Global Inc.'s Washington Research Group. "He is not a compromise candidate."
Indeed, many congressional watchers don't expect that Cordray will get the chance to lead the consumer bureau.
Senate Republicans have reiterated threats to block confirmation of any director to run the bureau without "significant changes" to the bureau's structure, which would weaken the bureau's powers. Lawmakers, so far, have also managed to avoid going into congressional recess -- preventing the president from making a temporary appointment to the post.
"Until the governing structure of the CFPB is reformed, so that the agency and its leadership have accountability for the way they write and enforce rules and spend federal dollars, I don't think it's appropriate to confirm anyone as director," said Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, in a statement.
Cordray won his position as Ohio's attorney general in a special election in 2008. In his brief tenure there, he filed a high-profile lawsuit on behalf of Ohio pension funds against Bank of America (BOA). He accused the bank of hiding losses of Merrill Lynch prior to buying the investment firm, and for awarding big bonuses to bank executives.
He also sued Ally Financial. The lawsuit sought to prevent the bank from foreclosing on borrowers in Ohio, because of their use of robo-signers accused of cutting corners in verifying foreclosure documents.
Last fall -- just days after Cordray lost his bid to keep his job as Ohio's attorney general -- Elizabeth Warren recruited him to help her set up and run the consumer bureau.
"Rich will be a strong leader for this agency," Warren said in a statement on the White House blog. "He has a proven track record of fighting for families during his time as head of the CFPB enforcement division, as Attorney General of Ohio, and throughout his career."
Consumer groups and progressive groups had been lobbying the White House to appoint Warren as the new bureau's director. But after the White House announced Cordray's nomination Sunday, most groups quickly released statements supporting the President's pick and praising Cordray's record as attorney general.
"Richard Cordray certainly has the requisite knowledge of the financial services marketplace, and demonstrated consumer protection track record to be qualified to be the CFPB's first director," said Travis Plunkett, lobbyist for the Consumer Federation of America.

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Overnight Avg Rate	Latest	Change	Last Week
30 yr fixed	4.50%		4.51%
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