Janet Schlarbaum, Mark Schlarbaum Management Tips

Submitted by: Janet Schlarbaum

Author: Secmit

nvesting in real estate has long been considered as a safe and high return investment. “Flipping” in real estate investing has become very popular over the last few years especially among the speculative real estate investors. Flipping refers to the buying and selling of real estate property within a short period for quick profits. Though the return on investment appears to be good, there is still a risk that your money could get locked-in in the absence of buyers.

Real estate prices have steadily increased since the beginning of this decade. However many signs point to the real estate boom coming to an end, so it may be wise to put real estate investing on hold. Investing in real estate, contrary to popular thinking, is a slow yielding investment. Hence real estate investors need to do proper planning and to conduct market analyses before investing.

Before investing in any property it is vital to study all the related documents of the property, to see the license of a broker if any, to check for liabilities etc. All contracts have to be in writing. All details such as the names of all parties, address of the property, area, purchase price, consideration etc. have to be entered in the contract along with all parties’ signatures. It is also prudent to hire a property lawyer to look into the intricacies of real estate contracts.

One good way of investing in real estate is to buy foreclosure properties. Foreclosure is the process in which a bank or a creditor sells the property of the homeowner to recover the loan, which the owner has not been able to pay back.

A lease to purchase contract is considered the best type of real estate investing. This type of contract basically allows the tenant to lease a particular property for some period, and at the end of the period he has the option of purchasing the property at an amount decided at the signing of the contract. The tenant pays an initial non-refundable deposit. If the value of the property goes up at the end of the leasing period, the he may want to buy the property at its original value. If the value has not increased he can opt not to buy it. During this period he can also rent the property to someone else. By this method, the investor takes a lot of the risk off himself as he does not have to commit a large sum of investment capital not apply for a big loan.

Submitted by: Janet Schlarbaum

Author: Charles M O melia

To demonstrate this tip, I’m going to take you back in time, but the strategy of that time is just as viable today, as it was in the past. The year is 1990, the stock for the demonstration is Comerica, and the amount of money invested was $3,333.34. Comerica (CMA) was selected for one simple reason – in 1990 CMA had a historical record of raising their dividend for the past 21 years. Today’s CMA has a 36 year history of raising their dividend every year.

In January 1990 Comerica was selling at $48.38 a share, paid a quarterly dividend of 65 cents a share, with a dividend yield of 5.37% (.65 divided by 48.38 x 4 x 100 = 5.37%). The result of just holding this stock through the years, never taking a profit, and simply having the dividends reinvested each quarter (commission-free) back into the stock is chronicled below: These are the actual returns based on the closing prices of the stock on the company’s dividend payout date (the date a company purchases their stock on the open market for investors enrolled in their stock dividend reinvestment plan; The figures were taken from the research I did, and is from an excerpt from my book The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement.)

Comerica: (with the dividend each quarter rolled back into the stock) $3,333.34 into CMA in January, 1990 at $48.38 a share: Shares purchased, 68.90 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1990: 72.92 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1991: 115.01 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1992: 118.85 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1993: 245.78 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1994: 256.96 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1995: 268.78 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1996: 277.83 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1997: 285.32 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1998: 436.65 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1999: 446.04 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2000: 463.82 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2001: 474.47 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2002: 490.23 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2003: 512.60 shares.

Total Amount of shares as of April 1, 2004: 522.23 shares.

On April 1, 2004 Comerica closed at $54.65, for the total market value of $28,539.87 for 522.23 shares of stock. To put the total $28,539.87 into perspective, an interest rate of 15 percent a year on $3,333.34, compounded annually for fourteen and a quarter years would return $28,282.15.

Since this excerpt from my book Comerica has raised their dividend again, from 52 cents a share per quarter, to the current 55 cents a share per quarter, payable to shareholders of record on March 15, 2005.

I own Comerica stock and I have no intention of ever taking a profit! I will continue being a buyer, as long as the company continues its program of raising their dividend every year.

However, I also understand that in the stock market there are no guarantees! It is for this reason and this reason alone, that diversity is a necessity. If I knew for certain that CMA would continue its program of raising their dividend every year, and that the next 14 years would provide better than 15 percent return on my money, I would only own CMA stock. It is because of this ‘risk of no guarantees’ in the stock market that the rewards for investing in the stock market are much higher than a passbook savings account, CD’s or Bonds.

So, to beat the ‘risk of no guarantees’, and to reap the benefits of a better return, I diversify into other companies with the same historical performance. Through a systematic approach of dollar-cost averaging into my stock positions every quarter, along with my quarterly dividend reinvestment, I increase the amount of dividends paid to me each quarter, from every company that I own. My measurement for success in the stock market is not measured by the amount my portfolio is worth. It is measured by the amount of ever-increasing cash dividends received from every stock that I own. As a matter of fact, when my portfolio dips in net-worth, my dividend income accelerates. The reason for this is simple. The lower my port- folio’s net-worth, the higher the dividend yields of the stocks in my portfolio.

Submitted by: Janet Schlarbaum

Author: Stephen Bush

A combined approach to working capital management and credit card processing strategies should not be forgotten in any cost-reduction efforts for a business. With the challenging economic situation faced by most businesses throughout the United States, this is even more important for business survival.

One of the most overlooked working capital management activities is credit card processing. By using more appropriate working capital management options, a successful credit card processing program is likely to eliminate most credit card factoring complications.

Improvements to credit card financing services should result in several working capital benefits by producing better cash flow and simultaneously eliminating credit card processing problems via more advanced business financing approaches. The total cost benefits of combining programs in this manner can be impressive and valuable in efforts to increase business profitability.

As I noted in an earlier commercial loan article, for any business that accepts credit cards as a method of payment, a business cash advance (obtained via credit card processing and credit card financing) is a critical working capital financing tool that is often overlooked. Even thriving businesses frequently need more capital than they can borrow via a business loan from a bank. However, what is typically even more overlooked by many business owners is the opportunity to reduce their operating costs at the same time that they obtain additional cash.

Credit card receivables financing is an excellent alternative to consider when a merchant is seeking a short-term business loan, an unsecured commercial loan and improved strategies for credit card processing and management. However, there are a number of working capital management difficulties to be avoided with all of these programs. As with most successful business financing strategies, there will typically be only a few lenders that are effective at properly executing the combined tasks.

Because of this, the prudent choice of an appropriate provider of credit card processing and credit card factoring is of critical importance to any business owner that accepts credit cards. I published a special report describing the ten critical problems to avoid in an effort to advise about the importance of avoiding several prominent providers of these services.

For merchants either displeased with their credit card processing services or wondering if cost reductions are achievable, a receivables financing program which eliminates all of the ten critical working capital management difficulties described above should be seriously considered. One of the key reasons for evaluating these functions in this joint fashion is that the low-cost providers of the best business cash advance services will probably be using the lowest-cost and best providers of processing services.

In many cases, the best and lowest-cost providers of credit card processing are simply not available to the average business owner other than as part of a working capital management plan encompassing both factoring and processing. The efforts to combine these services will usually justify the coordination because of the resulting economies of scale.

Merchants should not lose sight of the substantial working capital management advantages which are likely to accrue to their business by effectively combining credit card financing and credit card processing services. As described above, reduced costs and cash flow improvements are major goals of successful funding alternatives, and the prudent coordination of financing strategies should accomplish both of these difficult goals together.