Bank finance articles and tips

The U.S. Misery Index recently hit a 28 year high, going back to 1983. The misery index is the sum of inflation and the unemployment rates and it hit 13 last month. So, it got me to thinking, where did things stand in 1983 and what did the next few years look like?
First, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in 1982 was 9.7% and then in 1983 it was 9.6%. This compares to an unemployment rate of 9.3% in 2009, 9.6% in 2010 and currently at 9.1% as we near year-end. So, we are now three years into the 9%+ range, with no one predicting a drop by years end.

Birthday Gifts

Custom koozies are a great idea for birthday gifts. Of course, you don't want to make these beer koozies for a 5th or a 6th kid birthday party, but for a 40th or a 50th, they may be a great keepsake that you can send home with people and something that they can use the day of the party also. There are many great designs that you can put on these and make sure that you are giving your beer and soda drinking guests something that they are not only going to appreciate but are also going to use in the future....

Today we're going to take a look at business finances. When it comes to business, cash is king. Without cash, your business will shut down. But how do you generate cash, and what are some of the pitfalls of these sources?

Sales are a primary way to generate cash for your business. However, the optimum amount of sales is necessary to result in the right amount of cash. Not enough sales mean not enough cash. This will end your business unless you can find a way to dial back costs quickly. Ironically, too many sales cause a cash flow problem as well. As sales volume increases, you need to produce more inventory, hire more staff, and buy more equipment, all of which increase your overhead costs. In fact, unless all you do is receive a straight commission and pay your employees based on straight commission, you will almost always have some cash-intensive costs when you make more sales.

When someone hands over a credit card to a merchant, or enters their credit card information online, they have little knowledge of what happens. All they see is the charge that appears on their statement. The truth is that a lot more is going on behind the scenes during your average credit card processing. Let's look at the steps taken by the typical online purchase....

In this article I'm going to look at the ways in which you can adjust your strategies to improve the performance of your trading system - how to do it, how not to do it, and how we can ensure that it works when we do......

With America seeing one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression, it's no surprise that over 1 million individuals will file for bankruptcy this year. Many people have been putting off filing bankruptcy over the last couple years hoping that things were going to get better. According to the data, it seems to be getting much worse.

Unemployment is standing at 9.2% nationwide without taking into consideration the number of individuals that are partially employed or have just given up going back to work completely. These people fall off the radar and are no longer recorded as a statistic.