Although we often think of goal setting as something we do at the start of every year, the truth is that it is extremely important to work on your business goals all year long. You should be setting goals multiple times each year, tracking your progress, and refining the strategies you are following in order to achieve your goals on an ongoing basis. To help you get started with your small business goals this year, here is a list of goals that have the potential to change your business for the better....

Use Online Bill Pay Through Your Bank The best way to pay bills online for free is probably your bank or credit union. If you have a checking account, it’s likely that your financial institution offers online bill pay as a free service. Paying from your bank means that your bank initiates the money transfer. The process for how to set up online bill payment services is simple. You’ll need to supply your bank with information about each payee (to whom you’re sending money) to have the bank send electronic payments (or checks) in the amount and on the date of your choosing....

In reality, business plans can take a long time to write, require that you have a tremendous amount of data at your fingertips, depend in part on projections and often are responsible for creating a long list of research you still need to conduct and other work you need to complete. Plus, not everyone is sold on the usefulness of a business plan. Consider the study of 116 new businesses conducted by Babson College....

According to a nationwide survey of 1,405 individuals, despite half of the affluent millennials carrying credit card debt, actually paying it off comes in sixth on their reported list of financial priorities. For this group, living expenses and related bills are their No. 1 financial priority (88%), followed by saving for retirement (79%), and then debt repayment (77%). Why Are Affluent Millennials Carrying Debt? 39% of the affluent millennials surveyed come from families who had trouble making ends meet, which puts them at a financial disadvantage right from the start....

Here are eight easy-to-avoid mistakes that could cost you your home before you’ve even had a chance to enjoy it. With that reality in mind, here are some key steps to follow when selecting an agent: If you put every cent you can scrape together into a down payment for your new home, borrow money from relatives to pay your closing costs, and plan on charging all repairs and future maintenance to a credit card—you’re spending too much....

Background on Meal and Entertainment Deductions For many businesses, meeting potential/existing customers or vendors/suppliers/partners is important to growth and sustainability, said Eric Nisall, a South Florida-based small business accountant, in an email to The Balance. “Any money you spend in the course of doing business that involves you, as the business owner, or your employee(s) paying for food and drinks qualifies as a ‘meals and entertainment expense,’ ” Nisall said. The IRS further defines allowable expenses as those both commonly accepted in your industry and helpful for your business....

Types of Insurance Companies The functions performed at insurance companies vary somewhat depending on the method insurers use to distribute their products. Most insurers fall into one of the following three groups: Direct Writers. Sell policies directly to insurance buyers without the use of intermediaries (agents or brokers). Direct writers interface with customers mainly via the telephone or a website. An example is GEICO.Exclusive Agency Insurers. Sell their products through captive (exclusive) agents, meaning agents contracted to sell their products only....

What Makes a Trust Discretionary? A discretionary trust is pretty much exactly what the name implies: Distributions are made at someone else’s discretion, namely the trustee. They’re not a sure thing with respect to when and how they’ll be transferred to beneficiaries, and beneficiaries have no control over and can’t demand distributions. Many state courts have taken the position that if this is not the case—if the terms for bequests and distributions are set in stone in the trust’s formation documents and according to the wishes of the grantor or creator of the trust—these inheritances are something of a present-day ownership situation....

Creating a will or a trust—or both—will entail out-of-pocket costs now, but you can take steps to minimize the expense and save your heirs and beneficiaries from paying more as well. Wills, Trusts, and Your Estate Plan An estate plan is a group of documents that dictates your post-death decisions regarding assets and property you own. Your estate is made up of more than just major expenses such as your home and car....

The Basics of Landlord Insurance In general insurance policies offer two types of protection. The first part protects the physical structures on the property in case of a loss, while the second part offers liability protection in case of a slip and falls or other claims against your property. You will want your landlord policy to include: Dwelling Coverage: This is coverage for the physical rental property. It is the cost to replace the existing structure....

Troubled Assets Relief Program The bill established the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), which was originally designed around a reverse auction. Troubled banks would submit a bid price to sell their assets to TARP, and each auction was to be for a particular asset class. TARP administrators would select the lowest price for each asset class to ensure that the government didn’t pay too much for distressed assets. However, this didn’t happen because it took too long to develop the auction program....

If you choose a 15-year mortgage to finance your home, the interest rate will be fixed, or unchanged, for the duration of the loan. Although it takes more income to qualify for a 15-year loan than a 20-year or a 30-year mortgage, 15-year mortgage rates are lower (but not as low as rates with a 10-year mortgage). This is because mortgages with shorter-terms pose a lower level of risk to lenders than longer-term mortgages....

Mainstream brokers, such as Edward Jones, love to sell American Funds because they typically have solid long-term track records and they can earn their fees by selling mutual share classes that charge loads, such as A Share Class (front load) and B Share Class (back load). To accommodate the demand for no-load funds, especially in 401(k) plans, American Funds created the R-share class, which enables brokers to get paid in other ways, such as 12b-1 fees....

Not sure what your goals are or where to start when it comes to saving and investing? The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission offers a Roadmap to Saving and Investing that takes you through the steps to determine your goals, risk tolerance, and investment options. Savings Options You can’t really begin to invest until you have some money saved. You could put some money in your local bank, but that’s not likely to yield you much additional cash, as interest rates tend to be quite low....

Reasons to Consider Community College Cost Savings Why consider a community college instead of a four-year college? Certainly, cost is one factor. According to the College Board, the average tuition for in-state students at public two-year colleges (the typical community college) for 2018-2019 was $3,660, while public four-year colleges charged $26,290 and private colleges had an average tuition cost of $35,830. In addition, over a dozen states now offer some form of free community college education....

How Online Bill Pay Services Work Enter your monthly payments into your chosen bill pay service. You’ll need to know the name, address, and phone number of the payee, your account number, and the amount due for payments that remain the same every month, such as a car or mortgage payment. For fluctuating costs, such as your electric or water bill, you’ll need to go in and adjust the amount every month....

Learn more about how BNB came about, what it is used for, and why it is not widely available. What Is BNB? Binance Coin or BNB, the primary token of the Binance blockchain, was launched in 2017 on the Ethereum blockchain as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The coins were offered at a price of 2,700 BNB per Ethereum coin (ETH), or 20,000 BNB per bitcoin, which pegged the price of one BNB close to 15 cents....

Appearance counts during interviews—not only how you dress, but also how you carry yourself. Even if your responses to questions are flawless, the wrong body language can send the wrong signal and sour how you’re perceived. Follow these recommendations for men and women to project poise and confidence—not jitters and arrogance—during your next job interview. Before the Interview Put on your confidence even before the interview commences. In the waiting area, have good posture while standing and sitting....

Traders and investors have a number of different tools at their disposal to determine a position (when to buy or sell a commodity) depending on their market view. Two of these methods are the bull spread and the bear spread. The bull spread is used to reduce the risk potential for a profit; a bear spread is used to try to reduce losses and maximize profit when prices are declining....

Expenses can include lodging, personal car mileage reimbursement, flights, ground transportation, tips to bellhops, meals, tips to waiters, room service, and other incidental expenses an employee might experience while on the road. Travel Expenditures for Employees on Long-Term Assignments When using long-term housing facilities for traveling employees, many employers also supply opportunities for the employee’s family to visit when the employee is traveling extensively on business. When an employee is assigned to another company location on a temporary basis, employers will sometimes pay for the family of the employee to visit at prescribed time intervals....