If you want to start a new business or if you want to sell your established business, in both cases you will need the assistance of a business broker. The process of choosing a credible broker with experience is very important because they are the ones that help you narrow down your search according to your criteria.
In this article, we are going to share with you four important things that you must consider before you choose a business broker. It does not matter how popular a broker is, such as Engine Forex, etc. When it comes to dealing with them, you have to be extra conscious.
1. Qualification of Business Broker
A business broker must be a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) because it is the basic criteria that make them eligible to work as brokers. Moreover, a business broker must also be a member of the International Business Brokers Association. Other than these basic qualifications, the business broker must also have a real estate license, especially when you are selling your property.
Along with the verification of these qualifications, you must ask the broker for how long they are working in this business and if this is their full-time job or they do it as a part-time activity. All of these together are the first and most important things that one must look for in a business broker.
2. Web Presence of Business Broker
This is another criterion that one must evaluate about the brokers that if they have an online presence or not. It shows their credibility and seriousness of their work. Now as you get their website, search for it and see how fast it loads, how convenient it is for use and the kind of business that it offers.
After evaluating the site, turn to the broker personally and ask them a few questions. You must ask them about how much traffic do they get on their website, how many offices of that broker business use that website, the number of qualified buyers in their record, etc.
3. Charges of Business Broker
The charges of business brokers vary, and the percentage of profit they ask you to share is also different. Some of the brokers have a fixed fee, and they do not ask for additional money if you generate a good sum of money later. While some brokers do not have a fixed fee and they charge an individual case when the deal is done. According to the price earned by you, they ask for their commission.
4. Recent Client Review About Business Broker
The fourth and the most important thing that you must look for in a business broker is to see the reviews of their previous clients. They will give the right idea about the credibility of that broker. You can even contact them personally to know the details of their experience with that business broker.
Keeping these points in mind, you can search for a reliable business broker to buy or sell a business.
Singapore is primed to be the leading financial centre in the world, even getting close enough to compete with Hong Kong, New York, and London. A long-standing favourite of business, Singapore’s government policy is why the country has done so well in the last few years. Another reason the country is attractive to business is that its infrastructure makes navigating the country feasible.
For businesses looking for office space, this infrastructure has made finding appropriate, affordable space easier. The coworking craze, for example, is one office space solution that has made it much easier to lease space on a dime. In addition to the budget, businesses gain many financial advantages from renting a coworking space in Singapore.
Let’s take a closer look at all the financial benefits to be reaped from utilising coworking spaces.
Lower Overheads
One of the most immediate financial advantages to coworking is that it drastically reduces the amount that businesses pay out on overheads every month. Typically, with most conventional leases, businesses have to pay for rent and then they also have to pay for utilities and amenities. After adding in furniture, businesses eat up their entire budget easily.
Plus, in Singapore’s more popular areas, the cost of leasing office space is expensive. Through the coworking space, renters get desk space with all of the amenities included. Businesses not sure whether they will remain in the area, or start-ups, really benefit from not having to shoulder a lot of costs every month. This affordability lends itself to giving businesses flexibility in deciding when and where they want to do business.
Access To Community
Businesses do not rent a coworking space. They join them. Another major financial benefit relates to the community that is in place once joining. Simply put, this office format encompasses more than just using space for work. Instead, a lot of professionals find that their coworking space doubles as a place to network.
As opposed to signing up for, and paying for, networking events, professionals can build relationships from within the community. Furthermore, some of the better coworking spaces focus on building relationships by hosting social functions that galvanise the community while providing opportunities for professionals to connect on a lighter note. In terms of money spent, if you already belong to the coworking space, these events do not cost a lot or are often free.
Manoeuvrability
The great cost-saving quality of coworking is that it allows you to research and test other markets at a much lower cost. In terms of renting space on daily basis, you could essentially work from more than one office while trying to see whether a new area works for your business. As opposed to having to spend an ungodly amount of money to set up in a new location, coworking offices allow businesses to move around without the hassle that goes along with establishing your business in a new location.
Access To Resources
The other major financial benefit is that the coworking space provides your business with access to resources. In one coworking space, you can find professionals working from a number of industries. Essentially, through networking, it is possible for you to get pricing information related to estimates for contract work, to get and give referrals, and more importantly, find mentors who can help you navigate the coworking scene.
Finally, Singapore’s coworking scene has evolved to cater to businesses in a number of ways that helps them financially. For instance, industry-specific coworking spaces provide business with resources related to their industry. Also, parents with children can benefit from spaces that provide day-care.
Financial Fringe Benefits
Coworking is one of the only office fit outs that actually works for businesses. In addition to being a low-cost alternative to traditional office space, the coworking space establishes a foundation for not only social interaction but also valuable networking opportunities. Moreover, the numerous resources available to those working in the space almost guarantee businesses will benefit financially from their investment.
When you hear the phrase “value for money”, what is the first thought that pops to your mind? Most people would say that it involves cost-effectiveness. Its definition goes beyond that. Value for money is a utility derived from every purchase or every sum of money spent.
It is based on the minimum purchase price and the maximum effectiveness of the purchase. Simply put, value for money should have four different dimensions. These four dimensions are: economic, efficient, effective, and equitable.
The value of money should be economic in terms of its processing. Inputs must have been procureed at the least cost for the relevant level of quality.
The value of money should be efficient in terms of its outputs. The value of outputs should be considered in relation to the total cost of the inputs.
The value of money should be effective in terms of achieving program outcomes. Sometimes, equity considerations are put in here.
Lastly, the value of money should be equitale in terms of ensuring that the benefits are distributed fairly.
EVALUATION OF VALUE FOR MONEY
There are different ways to evaluate the value for money. Here are just three of the common ones:
1. Cost Utility Analysis
When the evaluator needs to consider individual preferences, this is usually the method that they turn to. This approach takes two or more alternatives and compares their costs to their values. However, it can result to a number of potential outcomes.
2. Cost Effectiveness Analysis
This approach can be employed when you need to compare the programs that aim to achieve the same goal. It involves evaluation of two or more alternatives based on the relative costs and outcomes.
3. Cost Benefit Analysis
If you want to know whether the costs outweigh the benefits then, you must use this method. This approach is the evaluation of alternatives by determining the costs and benefits of each one. It highlights whether a course of action is worthwhile or not.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
It is essential for an evaluator to consider a variety of methods for determining whether an activity is value for money or not.
If you’ve ever wanted to get into trading, or if you’ve been trading but want to have a change of pace, getting to know your options can be tricky. Not only are some platforms a bit challenging to understand from the get-go, some platforms are outright suspicious and can make you doubtful of their performance. After all, it’s one thing to be a platform designed for trading, but it’s another to be a platform that optimizes your trading. In this article, we’ll look into this Plus 500 review – and what you should know before trading, should you want to choose this trading platform. Remember, it’s important to be one step ahead of your plans when it comes to trading, as you’re taking risks with your own expenses and savings. It’s better to know the tools you might be using, and if they’re the ones for your needs.
Plus 500: What This Review Shows
You can view an Australian Plus500 review,European Plus500 review or Bitcoin Revolution review to understand more about the forex trading platform offered before deciding if this CFD provider is right for you. For instance, it’s important to learn as early as now that Plus 500 is only offering contract for difference (CFD), and it’s not given the authority to provide binary options for clients. This means if you’re looking for ways to trade in binary options, you may want to switch platforms.
However, if CFDs are your game, then Plus 500 will make you feel right at home. In fact, Plus 500 currently has a portfolio with over 2,000 instruments – making it one of the largest leading platforms to trade in CFDs. This also makes Plus 500 one of the quickest-growing CFDs provider amongst trading platforms.
For the uninitiated, contract for difference or CFDs are a kind of contract between two parties, commonly consisting of a seller and a buyer. In these kinds of trades, sellers are supposed to give buyer a payment that’s equivalent to the difference between how an asset is currently valued, to how an asset will be valued by the end of the contract. Should the difference be negative, then the buyer will be paying the seller instead.
Plus 500: Is It Legitimate? Who Regulates It?
Plus 500 Ltd, the company behind the Plus 500 software, is in fact listed on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) AIM section. Aside from this, Plus 500 Ltd has actually earned itself quite the reputation in the trading field, as it’s the first to introduce the popular cryptocurrency bitcoin into the realm of CFDs in 2013. By February the next year, Plus 500 Ltd has actually achieved a market value of $1-billion in the LSE.
Being listed under the AIM section of the LSE means not only is Plus 500 legitimate, but it actually has to comply with all the rules and regulations the LSE and its other regulating bodies. This means Plus 500 is also regulated by major financial institutions located in major countries, and these include:
FCA, which is the United Kingdom’s main regulatory body for financial institutions. It stands for the Financial Conduct Authority, and it regulates Plus 500 UK Ltd via FRN 509909 as its FCA reference number.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which is a non-profit Australian institution that is also the country’s corporate regulator. Those interested can look for Plus 500 AU Pty Ltd with the AFSL #417727, and ACN 153-301-681.
CySEC, which is Cyprus’ way of monitoring companies and institutions offering financial services to the country and to the European Union. They make sure financial regulations and laws are followed by businesses operating in Cyprus and the EU. Finding Plus 500 CY Ltd can be done by inputting 250/14 as its license number.
Plus 500: How Does The Platform Fare?
Anyone who’s been handling trading platforms before may raise concerns primarily related to the user experience. Just how easy is a particular trading platform to use? After all, regardless of how many features a trading platform has, if it’s not laid out in a careful manner, users will not be able to enjoy it. Plus 500 understands this, and as such has provided a platform that is quite easy-to-use and efficiently laid out.
Interestingly, the Plus 500 platform makes sure everything is easy to access and easy to use. Everything has been labeled clearly in an inclusive screen, and it even has options to look at past trades and your current positions.
Users will find it extremely easy to navigate its software, as a navigation bar on the left side easily allows them to choose the kind of settings they want for their trades. In fact, CFD platforms are easily accessible on the sidebar, allowing traders to pick whether they want to do trades in forex, commodities, indices, or even shares. There’s even a timer option that allows them to show activities or a week, a day, four (4) hours, two (2) hours, one (1) hour, and even 30-minute, 15-minute, 5-minute, and 1-minute options.
You can use the platform both as a software you can download for your computer or laptop, or as a website you can view in a browser.
Plus 500: Are There Mobile Offerings?
For those interested as to just how expansive Plus 500 is as a trading platform, it’s actually one of the very few trading platforms that are offered in mobile devices. Plus 500 has both an iOS and Android version compatible with most smartphones that are iOS7.0 or higher for Apple’s flagship devices. It’s also one of the very few trading platforms available for Windows phones.
The application itself offers a simple-to-use and clean interface that can make it extremely convenient for users to make their trades. Its range of features make the trading platform very handy to use on the go as well.
In fact, it appears the application has stunned quite a lot of customers as well. It’s gained a four (4) out of five (5) star rating in the Apple Store, and it has a 4.2 rating out of 5.0 stars in the Google Play Store. Moreover, its Windows version also earned 3.8 out of 5.0 stars.
Plus 500: Free Trial Offerings
One of the most surprising features of Plus 500 is how you can open an account. Everyone is given an option to open a demo account that they can use to try the system to its fullest. Perhaps what’s most interesting about this feature is that each demo account is provided with $50,000 worth of virtual credits, all of which they can use to try and test the platform as they see fit. They can’t withdraw this in real money, of course, as this is virtual currency.
Plus 500: How Does It Fare With CFDs?
When it comes to its CFD offerings, Plus 500 actually has quite a number of options to offer. As said earlier, it has more than 2,000 instruments to choose from when it comes to CFD, ranging from commodities, to indices, forex, ETFs, and even shares. Before you begin trading, however, it’s important to remember that there’s always a risk of losing a lot of money due to various factors. In fact 74-percent to 89-percent of retail investor accounts did lose money when they trade CFDs, and as such it’s important to have a basic background on the matter in order to assure yourself that you know just where you can trade:
Forex, also known as foreign exchange, is traded using a variety of pairs of currency. In Plus 500, forex is divided into four (4) major categories – there’s Major currencies, which include high combinations such as the Euro-Japanese Yen, and the British Pound-US Dollar; there’s the Majors II, which have other groups of major currency pairs such as the British Pound-New Zealand Dollar, and the Australian Dollar-Japanese Yen; the third group is called virtual currency, including cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin; and the last group contains major-lesser currency pairs such as the US Dollar-Polish Zloty, and the US Dollar-Singaporean dollar.
Commodities, where Plus 500 allows traders to participate in trades in commodities such as oil, gold, and even grain.
Indices, where Plus 500 allows traders to cover indices from various countries in Europe, as well as Hong Kong and the United States.
Shares, where CFDs such as those in Amazon, Tesla Motors, and Facebook can be traded as the users wish.
Options, whereas a wealthy selection of options can be traded via the Plus 500 platform, such as the Deutsche Bank, Apple, and the UK 100.
Exchange traded funds, or ETFs, where Plus 500 allows you to trade them across a wide variety of indices and commodities.
Cryptocurrency, wherein the Plus 500 platform allows you to be able to trade in various kinds of cryptocurrencies such as IOTA, Ripple, Neo, Litecoin, Ethereum, and of course Bitcoin.
Plus 500: Keeping Yourself Safe
Interestingly, another useful feature Plus 500 has is its wide range of risk management tools. These allow you to be able to at least mitigate losses and manage the kinds of risks you’re taking with some automated tools that can be of assistance.
Guaranteed stop makes sure your potential loss is capped at an absolute limit. These are reserved in cases wherein your position is immediately closed should it reach a preferred price, or if the market price suddenly gaps. These are available on certain instruments, which will be indicated upon selection.
Stop limit, where profits gained from an instrument are protected once prices start moving up. The option makes sure your position is cleared when a particular stop limit is reached.
Stop loss, which is a good way of mitigating your losses as it instructs Plus 500 to immediately close the position once prices start moving downwards from your specified value.
The Takeaway: Is The Plus 500 For You?
If there’s anything the above Plus 500 review might tell us, what you should know before trading lies not just in the kind of steps you need to do as a trader, but knowing the right platform for you to use. Just because a software touts itself as “the best platform,” or if you think a platform is impressive, means it’s automatically designed to help you become a smarter trader. Always remember that trading has a lot of complex dimensions, and having a tool that can make it much easier for you to have better and wiser decisions should be the platform of your choice. Remember to always choose wisely in order to get the best out of your equipment, tools, and software.
Michael Harris
Michael Harris is both an entrepreneur and business-oriented writer contributing his financial and business insights to sites such as TransFS. His passion for writing, combined with his business acumen, allows him to be able to write pieces that can not only help readers understand financial and business concepts, but also do so in a way that is both entertaining and enjoyable to read. He understands that finance can be a challenging subject to comprehend, and as such he makes sure he tailors his writing in order to be of use to his readers. He jogs during his free time.
One of the rites of passage growing up has become the learner’s permit and then the driver’s license. Insurance defines as an arrangement by a company that will guarantee some type of compensation if while using a vehicle a specified loss, illness, damage or even death occurs.
An insurance company forms a pool of people who pay a premium and using the math of probability determine how likely or unlikely an individual will have an accident. It pays to shop around especially with a teenager driving.
Auto Policy Rates
Policy rates become determined by many factors. The factors list as:
Gender
Age
Location
Type of vehicle driven
Prior accidents
Number of miles driven in a year
Marital status
Credit Score
The premium rate of an individual becomes a composite of all those factors. Different companies weigh the factors differently causing variation in policy rates. Online sites make it convenient to compare prices across carriers.
Why Teens Pay More for Car Insurance?
Looking at the general factors gives a hint why teenagers pay more for a car insurance policy. The term “prior accidents” does apply to a beginning driver (16 to 18 years old). Just like the calculation of premiums comes from looking at the probability and statistics of a group of adult drivers so does teenage drivers.
According to the CDC 15-19 years, olds represent about 7 % of the population of drivers. The adolescent group accounts for 11% of the total costs of vehicular injuries. Most teenagers do not have a credit history and depend on parents and guardians credit to get an insurance policy. That in itself causes the higher rate.
It relates to age in that the government has declared that group more accident prone so the insurance companies have the right to charge a higher premium. Male teenagers as a group have more accidents than females increasing rates. Married people get cheaper premiums because data shows having a spouse somehow correlates to fewer accidents. Most teenagers remain unmarried.
General Features of an Insurance Contract
An automobile insurance policy has six different types of coverage.
Bodily Injury Liability
It covers the teenager if they injure someone else while driving and to protect assets from someone suing for money.
Personal Injury Protection as in medical payments
It pays for treatment of injuries to a driver or passengers and also covers lost wages.
Collision
It pays for damages to the teenager’s car resulting from a collision.
Comprehensive
This plan covers events such as falling objects, a fire, flood, hail, wind, explosion or a collision with some type of animal.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage
If any driver hit by an uninsured driver or one without enough insurance a person gets a reimbursement.
Property Damage Liability
Pays for damage to property caused by a driver.
Knowing the statistics about teenagers and driving a guardian or parent can determine where they need to get more coverage. Since most teenagers’ damage property or have an accident going for the more maximum amounts of insurance of Bodily injury liability, personal injury protection, and property damage makes sense.
Ways to Save on Insurance for Teenagers
Insurance offer discounts on teen insurance rates. Discounts remain dependent on which insurance company chose. Here are the most frequent types of discount:
Completing a course in safe driving reduces premiums.
Having a record of good citizenship and good grades.
Choose the safest vehicle you can afford.
Choose an older vehicle rather than the latest one.
Compare adding on to the parent insurance policy versus having a separate teenage insurance policy.
Check if higher deductibles are available.
See if the teenager qualifies for a sometime driver or resident student discount.
Once a teen drives keep a clean driving record
Ways to Avoid an Accident
Many studies have been done on teenage driving. A set of behaviors have been determined to cause more accidents than in other driving groups. Having other teenager passengers ups the likelihood of having an accident.
Getting distracted as in talking on the phone, eating, checking the radio or texting can lead to an accident. Teenagers due to inexperience and overreaction to a situation in a vehicle often lead to an accident. Overestimating their abilities to stop a car often causes an accident which when paired with speeding can become deadly, read this article.
Conclusion
A teenager driving in most cases becomes a step to adult independence and decision making. Most teens survive those early years of driving intact. Most teenagers have a minor collision or two which helps make the point about safe driving.
Taking a driving course drives the point home that once on the road for a time they answer to a whole community outside of parents. Taking a teenager along when talking to an insurance agent shows communities develop rules as well. Most of all enjoy the experience of a teenager driving.
MoneyDigest
Anna Agoncillo
