Video Professor

A Quick Quickbooks® Review

Tax time. Don’t you just love it? I mean is there anything you’d enjoy more than pouring through receipts and files and form after form? I can. In fact I can think of about 762 things I’d rather do. Included in that list is getting my wisdom teeth removed without pain medication.

As I am anything but organized, I find that my problem is keeping track of all my expenses. For a while, I put receipts in envelopes. Then I tried manila file folders. Yeah, real helpful. And my important statements? Let’s just say finding those involved a lot of swearing.

Someone told me I need to buy Quickbooks financial software. So I listened and ran to the store and picked up a copy of Quickbooks 2007. To date, I have been happy with my decision to purchase Quickbooks and here is why I decided to go with Quickbooks instead of other programs. The Quickbooks review was more favorable than those of others.

Quickbooks, for those of you not familiar with the product, is a financial accounting software program that allows the user to better organize and manage their finances. Quickbooks primary competitors are Quicken and MS Money.

The Quickbooks review I read was favorable towards the product but also highlighted a few problem areas. Here is a synopsis of a review posted by ZDNet.

The good: QuickBooks 2007 provides minor improvements to an already top-notch interface; new Google-specific marketing tools.

The bad: QuickBooks 2007 doesn’t offer many new accounting goodies for QuickBooks 2006 upgraders.

The bottom line: Despite its lean list of improvements, QuickBooks 2007 remains a terrific small-business accounting package. Longtime QuickBooks users who haven’t already upgraded to QuickBooks 2006 should leap to 2007 instead.

From there I decided to find another review of Quickbooks. About.com posted the following Quickbooks review that also proved helpful.

Overall, QuickBooks 2007 remains an easy-to-use software program for small business accounting. This is a must-have upgrade for users with versions from 2004 or earlier (since Intuit does not support software over three years old). Manufacturing, wholesale, and retail businesses will benefit from enhanced features in the 2007 version.

After reading the various reviews of the Quickbooks product I was confident in my decision to purchase Quickbooks 2007. I think that if you need help managing your finances, Quickbooks would be a product you could benefit from. But make sure to do your research to ensure that Quickbooks is the product for you. Aren’t reviews great?

Consolidate Your Debt

You do not have to be a news junkie to know that consumer credit card debt loads (and consumer debt in general) are at dangerously high levels. If you are like me, you know this through firsthand experience. If you are one of the millions of Americans juggling multiple credit card balances you may want to consider a debt consolidation credit card.

Or should you?

Debt consolidation is nothing new. My guess is you receive countless debt consolidation offers from any number of banks and credit card companies. They throw around low interest rates in hopes of enticing you to apply for their debt consolidation credit card. For some, these low-interest offers can help them pay off their high interest debt and get their finances in order. However for others, such offers only help make things worse.

If you are considering applying for a debt consolidation credit card you should know a few things before doing so and ask yourself a very important question: do I have the financial discipline to pay off the balance and not charge more to the card? Such a question may seem obvious, but many folks do not understand the ramifications of making purchases using their debt consolidation credit card.

You may not be shocked to learn that those zero percent interest rates only apply towards balance transfers and not towards purchases, but did you know that any purchase you make will accrue interest until your balance is paid off? That’s right, if you transfer $3,000 to a debt consolidation credit card at zero percent and then make $1,500 worth of purchases at 15 percent, you will not begin to pay off the $1,500 until the initial transfer is paid off.

However, if you have the financial discipline to ignore your debt consolidation credit card and not make additional purchases with it, then you will be doing yourself an obvious financial favor. After all, it does not take an economist to figure out that carrying a balance at 15 percent versus the same amount at zero percent is not the wisest financial decision a person can make.

Debt consolidation credit cards are an excellent option for those who know what they are getting into. So long as you know that you should not make additional purchases and know that the interest rate that was initially offered will remain, you will be in good shape. However, if you are not sure you have the financial discipline to follow the aforementioned rules, a debt consolidation credit card will wind up being no different than the others in your wallet or purse.

Keep It Simple: Index Investing

If you are new to the world of investing or are simply looking for different investing options, you should consider index investing.

Every investor has heard of the NASDAQ, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500. Perhaps the most well known indices, the numbers we associate with them, function as statistical measures of the changes in the portfolio of stocks that make up their index. As it would be next to impossible to track every change made by every stock, investors have come to rely on indices such as these to track changes in the market.

The reason index investing is fast becoming a popular means of investing is due in large part to the indices simplicity and performance relative to other funds. Index investing is easy because rather than devote large chunks of time to researching actively managed mutual funds — whose performance relies on the intelligence and wisdom of a fund manager — the investor can simply invest in an index fund that tracks the specific index they are interested in. Index investing does not rely on fund managers, thus index funds are often referred to as passive funds.

Many new to index investing mistakenly think that actively managed funds always perform better. However, the truth of the matter is that index funds often perform just as well, if not better, than actively managed funds. More important, index investing allows the investor to circumvent the administration fees commonly associated with mutual funds.

So what index should you invest in?

For those considering investing in large, established U.S. companies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is the index to consider. Comprised of the 30 largest and most influential companies in the country, the DJIA is typically seen as the least risky of all indices.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Russell 2000 index. This index measures the performance of smaller stocks that are often not included in the larger indices. For investors who are looking for bigger returns and are comfortable with risk, the Russell 2000 is worth considering.

However, investors should be aware that within each index are several smaller indices. Additionally, there are industry indices for those who want to invest in precious metals or telecommunications. As index investing becomes more popular, investors are finding more indices to choose from.

Index investing may not be as involved or exciting as other types of investing. But, for those who are seeking performance, not fees, and who do not want to spend the time researching mutual funds or individual stocks, index investing is the way to invest.

Online Investing Basics

Video Professor Reviews: If you have been thinking about investing in the stock market, you’ve probably done some research on the subject. Perhaps this article is part of that research. Depending on how far into the decision making process you are, you will at some point need to decide how you are going to handle your investment transactions.

In the days before the Internet, if you wanted to invest your money you had to go through a banker or stockbroker. You still can as a matter of fact. Doing so most definitely has its advantages.

If you choose to invest via a stockbroker you will have to pay for it. Usually their fee is based on a percentage of your portfolio. Investing through a broker is a wise decision to make when you do not know a whole lot about investing money. You are paying for expert guidance and assistance. Your broker will handle many of your investing decisions and because of this piece of mind you pay a fee.

However, more and more individuals are realizing the advantages of investing money online. For the new investor, investing money online can be an intimidating proposition. It can be disconcerting to some because they do not feel secure in handling such important transactions online. However, such concerns, while valid, should not prevent you from investing money online.

The advantages of investing money online are many. Investors are able to expedite their trades, and in some cases, execute trades in real time. Investors also find that they enjoy the control they have over their portfolios. After all, no one cares about your money more than you. Additionally, investing money online does not mean you are forsaking the client/broker relationship. In fact, many online brokerage firms are just extensions of the brick and mortar firms you may have heard of. Many times, you do not have to pay a fee to discuss your investing strategy with your broker.

If you are considering investing money online via an online broker, you should spend the time researching and test-driving the options each broker has. Each site has different user interfaces and offers different versions of the same service. You may find that you like one site’s research options but dislike the overall layout. Likewise, you might decide to go with a specific online broker because you like their commission structure and mutual fund choices.

Investing money online should not be an intimidating choice. The security features in place ensure that your transactions will be safe handled. Investing online is one of the most convenient ways to invest your hard-earned money.

Money Market Investing Basics

As we inch ever closer to a recession, it is wise for investors to examine their portfolios to make sure they are protected if the market makes significant downturns. Perhaps one of the best ways to protect your investments during such unstable times is to re-allocate your investments into stable securities such as money market funds.

Money market investing is one of the more conservative plays investors can make. Outside of an FDIC insured savings account or certificate of deposit, the money market fund is the next best place for conservative investors to invest their money. For those of you unfamiliar with money market investing, this article will provide a brief overview on the basics of money markets and what you need to know to begin investing in a money market fund.

First and foremost, a money market fund is very similar to a mutual fund, so it is important to note that investing in a money market fund carries some risk. That being said, money market funds have traditionally been very stable investments. Like a mutual fund, money market funds are managed by an individual or individuals who buy and sell securities that comprise the fund. Similarly, the money market fund will be governed by an investment objective — usually stable long-term capital appreciation.

Investors buy into a money market fund the same way they would a mutual fund. You can purchase lump-sum shares or invest small amounts of cash at a time. Usually, the money market fund will have minimum investments and fees associated with it. Additionally, there are money market funds specifically tailored for investors who are investing large sums of cash in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars. How you choose to invest is up to you.

One of the biggest advantages of investing in money market funds is that they allow you to access your cash very quickly — some the next day, some immediately. However, unlike a high-yield savings account, money market funds are not FDIC insured securities. That means that you will lose money if the fund performs poorly.

When speaking about liquidity, your needs will determine whether or not you should purchase a “purchased” or “sweep” fund. Purchased money market funds afford next-business-day liquidity and are bought and sold like other securities you are invested in. But, unlike these other securities they don’t charge fees for additional transactions. A “sweep” money market fund affords the investor same-day liquidity by trading shares to cover transactions such as trading or check writing. While purchased funds may have initial investments and minimums, sweep funds typically have higher fees and require more household assets to participate.

If you are thinking about investing and want a conservative investment vehicle, money market investing is worth considering. Just remember, that while relatively safe, they are not risk-free.

Quicken® versus QuickBooks®, Which is Better?

You need help organizing your finances, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’re starting your own small business and you want to make sure everything with your finances is safe from the get go. When choosing a computer program to help you organize your money, there is one fundamental debate; Quicken versus QuickBooks. Each of these programs has its advantages and disadvantages, just as each business or financial situation is unique. When debating Quicken versus QuickBooks, you really just need to think about what you need for your business or situation. Know what is important to you and what features you can easily live without. I will not pretend to have all the answers when it comes to Quicken versus QuickBooks, so here is an article from about.com by Shelley Elmblad that compares QuickBooks Simple Start and Quicken Home and Business. Let’s try to shed some light on the Quicken versus QuickBooks debate:

Dedicated vs. Dual-Use: Quicken Home & Business includes a multitude of features for personal finance management along with small business features, which appeals to those who want all financials in one place. QuickBooks Simple Start only has features relevant to small business accounting. Without the distraction of small business finance features, it is easier to learn to use QuickBooks Simple Start.

Look and Feel: Because QuickBooks Simple Start focuses only on helping you do small business accounting activities, it has a cleaner interface than Quicken Home & Business and is easier to navigate.

Account Reconciliation: Account reconciliations in Quicken Home & Business start from within account registers, and adding or changing transactions during the reconciliation process is uncomplicated.

Account reconciliations are handled somewhat differently in QuickBooks Simple Start and while not difficult, the process is not as intuitive as it is in Quicken software.

Downloading Transactions: Quicken Home & Business downloads transactions for bank, credit card and investment accounts. Unfortunately, QuickBooks Home & Business does not currently offer this convenience and all entries must be done manually.

Categories: Quicken Home & Business uses income and expense categories while QuickBooks Start uses expense accounts and income accounts to classify transactions per standard double entry accounting procedures. The income and expense accounts look like categories to those familiar with personal finance software, but double entry accounting is not always as simple as recording a check. For example, if the check is written to purchase new equipment for the small business, an asset account needs to be established for the equipment.

Quicken Home & Business or QuickBooks Simple Start?

Quicken Home & Business and QuickBooks Simple Start both address small business accounting needs, but QuickBooks Simple Start is true small business accounting software and it will better serve a growing small business.

QuickBooks Simple Start is better at quickly guiding you through small business transactions, where Quicken Home & Business works well for someone who uses Quicken for personal finances and who makes an occasional sale with a handful of customers.

I recommend using QuickBooks Simple Start if you are very serious about your small business and you have a plan in place for growth. When your business grows, QuickBooks Simple Start data will transfer to higher version of QuickBooks with richer small business accounting features. If you use Quicken for managing personal finances and you frequently have small business accounting transactions, your best bet is to use Quicken Deluxe or Premier for personal finances and QuickBooks Simple Start for small business finances. You can try QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition to experience how it makes small business accounting easier.

Hopefully, this sheds some light on the Quicken versus QuickBooks debate.

Beginners Guide to Investing in Euros

As the value of the American dollar continues to decline, in relation to other currencies, interest in investing in Euros has increased. There are hundreds of web sites dealing with this current trend in the market. Money-Zine.com has a great article about investing Euros that I think you will find interesting.

 Euros Versus Dollars

 Currently the Euro is trading around $1.46 U.S dollars – on the stock exchange floor, this is known as the exchange rate. That means, it costs $1.46 to purchase one Euro. About a year ago, in 2006, Euros were trading at around $1.26. Understanding that the difference in prices means that the Euro is not fixed to the dollar, means that you can see that there is an opportunity to make or lose money from the change in the exchange rate over time.

So, if the value of the dollar declines relative to the Euro, then you, the investor, can make money from this decline. Let’s look at this opportunity a little closer.

 How and Why the Euro Exchange Rate Changes

Investing in Euros does not guarantee you a profit. If you think about the global economy, one of the major factors that affect the value of a currency is the faith in that country’s economy. If one country’s economy is weakening relative to another, then over time there should be a change in the exchange rate.

For example, if investors believe that the dollar will weaken against the Euro, then that means they think Euros will be worth more in the future in terms of dollars. Over the past twelve moths, that is exactly what happened. If you purchased 100 Euros last year, it would have cost you $126. If you traded those 100 Euros back in for dollars today, you would have gotten $146. So you would have received a gain of $20.00, which is a 15.8 percent return on the $126 investment.

In order to combat inflation here in the United States, the Federal Reserve has been keeping interest rates relatively low. Specifically, they have been low relative to interest rates found in Europe. This brings up the second reason for investing in Euros - taking advantage of higher interest rates in Europe relative to the United States.

By taking U.S. Dollars and buying government bonds, in Euros, then the investor has a second chance to earn a higher return on their investment.

 Risks Involved When Investing In Euros

When you invest in a foreign currency, you are placing a bet that the Euro will grow in value relative to the dollar. Before you place a bet like that, you need to understand the relationship over the past several years and try to predict what might happen in the future. In this case, the Euro has strengthened versus the dollar over the past year. The question is - Can this trend continue, will it turn around and for how long?

So, while investing in Euros is not a win-win situation, it is a rather stable and consistent means of investing your money into a foreign market.

Hydrate Your Wallet: Start Investing in Water

When I was a little girl, I thought water was free. I mean, it seemed so abundant, and it was a necessity of life. Little did I know that I should have listened to my father when he told me that nothing in life is free, not even water. But investing in water? Definitely, I found out. I had never heard of something as obscure as investing in water, though, so I looked it up. I needed information on this subject. I found a detailed article by Jon Markman on moneycentral.msn.com called “Invest in the Coming Global Water Shortage.” Scary but true. Here are some highlights from Jon Markman’s article about investing in water.

Not Making Any More Water

There is no more fresh water on Earth today than there was a million years ago. Yet today, 6 billion people share it. Since 1950, the world population has doubled, but water use has tripled, notes John Dickerson, an analyst and fund manager based in San Diego. Unlike petroleum, he adds, no technological innovation can ever replace water.

Although not widely appreciated, investing in water has been recognized by conservative investors as an opportunity – and it has rewarded them. Over the past 10 years, the Media General water utilities index is up 133 percent, double the return of the Dow Jones Utilities Index. Over the past five years, water utilities are up 32 percent – clobbering the flat returns of both the Dow Jones Utilities and the Dow Industrials. One of the long-term value drivers of investing in water, according to Dickerson, is that demand is not affected by inflation, recession, interest rates or changing tastes.

Virtually all of the U.S. water utility stocks are regulated by states and counties, which makes them pretty dull. Governmental entities typically give utilities a monopoly in a geographic region, then set their profit margin a smidge above costs. Just about the only distinguishing factor among them are the growth rates of their regions and their ability to efficiently manage their underground pipe and pumping infrastructure. Here are a couple of potentially more impactful ways for investing in water.

The central problem is that less than 2 percent of the world’s ample store of water is fresh. And that amount is bombarded by industrial pollution, disease and cyclical shifts in rain patterns. Its increasing scarcity has impelled private companies and countries to attempt to lock up rights to key sources.

Investors interested in investing in water can consider a number of variant plays. None are extremely exciting, but my guess is that, over the next few years, some more interesting purification technologies will emerge, along with, perhaps, a vibrant attempt at worldwide industry consolidation.

One current idea for investing in water is a Tennessee-based copper pipe and valve maker Mueller Industries, a $1 billion business with a trailing price/earnings multiple of 15 that is still not expensive despite a 47 percent run-up in the past year.

Another is flow-control products maker Watts Water Technologies, which is a little richer at a $975 million market cap and a trailing P/E multiple of 19, but is still owned by several leading value managers, including Mario Gabelli.

And possibly the most interesting is Consolidated Water, a $160 million company based in the Cayman Islands that specializes in developing and operating ocean-water desalinization plants and water-distribution systems in areas where natural supplies of drinking water are scarce, such as the Caribbean and South America. It currently supplies water to Belize, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, and it has expansion plans. It is the most expensive, but it may also have the greatest growth prospects and the future of investing in water. Of all of these, it is up the most over the past five years, a relatively steady 355 percent.

Of course, there is one other benefit to water investing: When these companies say they’re going to do a dilutive deal, its not something to worry about.

QuickBooks® Add Ons Help You Customize

QuickBooks can help you keep your business on stable financial ground and help you track all your money and expenses. If you are a small business owner, you have more than enough to worry about so using QuickBooks and QuickBooks Add Ons can be a great help to you and keep you from making costly financial mistakes. One problem that you might run into is not being able to find the QuickBooks program that is just right for you. Every business is unique and will have different needs. There is really no way for there to be as many QuickBooks programs as there are types of businesses. This is where QuickBooks Add Ons come in to play. This is the easiest way to customize a QuickBooks program so that it can be as beneficial as possible for your unique business. You might find that the Pro version works well for your business, but there are just a few things that you wish it could do for you that don’t come with the standard version of the program. Here are some QuickBooks Add Ons that you might find helpful or necessary to run your business.

Credit Card Processing – One of the important QuickBooks Add Ons if you are planning on making money is credit card processing. QuickBooks can provide you with everything that you need to accept credit and debit cards. There are three ways in which you can accept credit cards with QuickBooks Add Ons. Your business can accept credit cards by phone, fax or mail order. QuickBooks will automatically enter your transactions into your accounting software and is one of the credit card processing functions that is designed exclusively for QuickBooks. There are also QuickBooks Add Ons for Web stores so that you can set up your online store and accept credit cards. This will also help you to track your money more easily than other credit card processing. You can also use QuickBooks to set up terminals at an actual store and accept credit cards. If you already use QuickBooks, then you can also use this software for receiving credit card payments rather than having another system installed to accept credit cards.

Point of Sale – If you own a retail store, it is important to have a system for ringing up you sales and keeping track of your sales. One of the QuickBooks Add Ons you might not think about is the Point of Sale system. You will receive the barcode scanner, printer and all other essential hardware and software that are needed. This is another feature that is very easy to install if you already use QuickBooks. This will help to track your inventory as well as easily ringing up your sales, and all those other tasks that keep you from doing the important stuff. There are certain things that need to be automated so you can keep your attention on the more important things.

There are plenty of other QuickBooks Add Ons that can help cater to the needs of your business. If there is something you wish your QuickBooks program could do, don’t just wish, check to see if there aren’t QuickBooks Add Ons to help you.

Pros of Investing Money

Last night I was watching TV and came across a television show about investing. One of the callers wanted to know why they should even bother investing during an unstable time like that we which are currently facing. Then they asked what are the pros of investing in the first place. And while I understood why they would ask the first question, I could not believe that they asked the second question.

So, what are the pros of investing your hard earned money? Two words: compounding interest.

Some people go to magic shows to be amazed, I take a look at investing calculators. There is no better way to convince a person that investing is a brilliant idea than by showing them how compounding interest works.

For example, if you make an initial deposit of $1,000 into a standard savings account that yields 0.2 percent (the current rate at Wells Fargo) and invest $500 every month for 30 years you will end up accumulating approximately $186,000. Not to shabby, right?

However, should you invest the same amounts for the same time at an average rate of return of 8 percent, your $1,000 will be worth nearly $757,000! That is almost four times as much and that is the beauty of compounding interest.

Still not convinced about the pros of investing?

Fine, allow me to provide additional arguments.

Investing is a brilliant idea because saving money for the proverbial rainy day will not just make you rich; it will also make you an intelligent and responsible individual. What happens if your car breaks down and you do not have any money in the bank? You put the costly repair on your credit card. Compounding interest works with debt too, and I am not sure you want me to put those numbers in front of you. But if you want to find out how credit card abuse can kick your financial butt, visit any compounding interest calculator online to see.

And what about your child’s education? If you are planning on having children and you expect those children to go to college, you need to ask yourself who is going to foot the bill. You are? How are you going to do that? Hiding money under your mattress probably won’t send your kids to college. On the other hand, setting up a college fund and investing in securities that have high rates of annual returns will allow you to send your child to whatever college they can get in to.

I could go on, but I think you know the most important investing pros by this point. And if this article failed to convince you of why you should be investing your money, well, there probably isn’t any hope for you.

Good luck.