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February 6, 2013
Choosing the Right Financial Adviser

CHICAGO — Searching for right adviser can be almost as difficult as searching for right stocks

CHICAGO — The gut-wrenching volatility in the stock market over the past few years has been a tough challenge for busy business owners and professionals. That’s probably why so many are looking for professional help in dealing with investment decisions.

Business for “financial advisers” has been booming since the 2008 market meltdown. The problem is that searching for the right adviser can be almost as difficult as searching for the right stocks.

In most states, anyone can declare himself or herself a financial adviser without the need for a license or any formal credentials, even to the point of creating an official sounding title. At most brokerage firms, employees who used to be called stockbrokers are now called financial consultants or advisers. Whatever they are called, it’s important to remember that they are essentially salesmen who earn their money by getting you to buy and sell equities.

September 4, 2012
Save Now and Minimize the Tax Bite

CHICAGO — If you haven’t yet set up your own retirement savings plan, you can’t afford to delay

CHICAGO — Whether you’re just getting started in your dry cleaning business or you’ve been around for years, you can’t afford to let your hard-earned dollars get eaten up at tax time. It’s tough enough to earn a decent income these days, and it can be even harder to keep what you earn. That’s why it’s so important to take advantage of every legitimate way to minimize the tax bite on your earned income.

Worrying about your retirement today when the business demands on you are so high may not be at the top of your priority list, but it’s important to understand that retirement savings plans have the double benefit of reducing today’s tax load, thus effectively increasing today’s income, while helping to build that all-important retirement nest egg.

August 22, 2012
Building Better Business Credit (Part 2 of 2)

ARDMORE, Pa. — What steps can a dry cleaner take to improve the creditworthiness of his/her business?

ARDMORE, Pa. — Things go a lot easier when potential lenders, suppliers and partners can decide to take a risk based on a dry cleaning business’ credit history and capability of repaying obligations. With strong business credit, a business can borrow at a lower cost, with more favorable terms. In fact, many small dry cleaners with good business credit have discovered it is possible get loans without an onerous and often embarassing personal guarantee.

Obviously, business credit is quite difficult to get. For any small dry cleaning business owner, navigating the credit and lending world can feel like a vicious Catch-22. Most commercial banks and traditional lenders are reluctant to loosen their purse strings until would-be borrowers have proven themselves with a strong credit history. But it’s difficult to develop that good record when no one will lend in the first place.

August 21, 2012
Building Better Business Credit (Part 1 of 2)

ARDMORE, Pa. — With stronger credit, a business can borrow at a lower cost, with more favorable terms

ARDMORE, Pa. — Things go a lot easier when potential lenders, suppliers and partners can decide to take a risk based on a dry cleaning business’ credit history and capability of repaying obligations. With strong business credit, a business can borrow at a lower cost, with more favorable terms. In fact, many small dry cleaners with good business credit have discovered it is possible get loans without an onerous and often embarassing personal guarantee.

Obviously, business credit is quite difficult to get. For any small dry cleaning business owner, navigating the credit and lending world can feel like a vicious Catch-22. Most commercial banks and traditional lenders are reluctant to loosen their purse strings until would-be borrowers have proven themselves with a strong credit history. But it’s difficult to develop that good record when no one will lend in the first place.

IN THE BEGINNING

When a business issues or extends credit to another business, it’s referred to as “trade” credit. Trade, or business, credit is the single largest source of lending in the world.

July 3, 2012
Retirement Planning: Watch Out for Yourself

CHICAGO — Survey: Only 59% of Americans are saving for retirement

CHICAGO — Despite the unrelenting flow of advice from people who ought to know, huge numbers of Americans just aren’t facing the truth about retirement. It would seem that those of us who are systematically planning and saving for a comfortable retirement are on the road to becoming a distinct minority.

Adding to the growing body of evidence of this national lethargy is data from the latest annual survey on retirement preparation conducted by Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBI), a non-profit organization. EBI has been gathering this data for 22 consecutive years. Among the findings of its 2011 survey:

February 7, 2012
The Numbers: Unemployment, Mortgage Applications, U.S. Competitiveness

CHICAGO — DECEMBER FOUND THE U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT rate dropping to a nearly three-year low of 8.5%, with non-farm payrolls increasing by 200,000 in the month alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Economists had expected a 150,000 increase, and the number was the largest hike in three months. The forecasted unemployment rate was 8.7%.

December 8, 2011
The Numbers: Jobs Growth Expectations, Mortgage Delinquencies, and Economic Policies

CHICAGO — A new report from NYSE Euronext provides some economic encouragement. Top executives for 62% of public companies and 71% of private firms expect to expand their businesses and add jobs in 2012, a move counter to growing uncertainty of the economy and political instability. This is the first report from NYSE Euronext to include private or emerging companies and MBA students that the NYSE dubs “aspiring corporate leaders.”

On the other end of the spectrum, the congressional so-called Super Committee failed to come to an agreement on a deficit reduction plan, leading to a drop on the stock market and continued debate as to the cause of the committee’s inaction. The main stumbling block appeared to be the continued tax cuts, rather than higher tax rates, for the upper tier of income earners.

September 22, 2011
The Numbers: Jobs, Mortgages, and Consumer Confidence

CHICAGO — Early September brought a new proposal—the Americans Jobs Act—from President Barack Obama, which includes incentives for small-business owners to aid in cutting taxes and adding employees.

The proposal cuts employer payroll taxes in half, offers a series of tax credits for companies that hire workers who have been unemployed for longer than six months, establishes an “infrastructure bank” to offer loans for private-sector projects, funds a variety of transportation projects, intends to modernize schools and vacant properties, extends unemployment benefits and subsidizes jobs training programs, pumps money into communities for teachers and first responders, and sets up a summer jobs program for teens.

The bipartisan super committee in Congress—tasked with finding ways to reduce the nation’s debt by December—was due to hear the president’s proposals on cutting debt later in the month.

July 14, 2011
Evaluating An Investment

SAN FRANCISCO — Great strides have been made in the development of labor-saving devices for the drycleaning industry. Of course, these improvements are miniscule in comparison to what’s happening in other industries. Nevertheless, there are improvements in drycleaning that can be capitalized upon under the right circumstances.

The keys to maximizing the benefits you receive from a large capital investment include knowing why you’re making the purchase decision, when is the best time to make these purchases, how to make the most of the equipment bought, and how to implement any changes the purchase forces.

Take each of these considerations in order. For instance, if you want to purchase a new conveyor or sorting system, there are many possible reasons—saving money and improving accuracy are two good ones. But if the required investment is $10,000, $50,000, $100,000, or more, it’s worth double-checking your assumptions.

November 12, 2008
Selling Out at a Market Low

“The world has changed, and not for the better.”
–Tom Brokaw, Oct. 7, 2008

The drycleaning industry has seen tough times lately. We have seen increasing supply and energy costs, we can’t seem to lower our labor costs, and there are still too many plants. Now that we are officially in a recession or Depression, what can we expect?