The best way to plan for your retirement financial needs is to estimate your monthly budget and then give it a test run – live on that budget for a while. Two things become evident:

• How to plan your Private Employer Benefit Plan, 401(k) or IRA monthly withdrawals, and
• If you need to begin saving and investing more money now to live the lifestyle that gives you the greatest freedom and happiness.

Once you have figured your monthly budget, add in seasonal costs (holiday season, anniversaries) and then calculate what your annual needs will be.

Next, review each of your retirement accounts to see what the rules are regarding withdrawals, any penalties or taxes that may be expected, and what any mandatory distributions are. The rate at which you withdraw funds from each account determines how long the account will last.

While figuring your budget, keep in mind the past historical trends of inflation and the cost of services that may impact you most, such as healthcare costs. As articles in business magazines suggest, other economic factors which may cause your retirement funds to last longer is considering if moving to a locale where the cost of living is lower than where you currently reside. Many ex-patriot communities from Costa Rica to Thailand grew due to their excellent level of health care and the low cost of living.

Another economic variable is how well your investment stocks perform. From studies done by Standard & Poor’s analysis of the stock market’s overall performance over the past eighty years, a sustainable withdrawal would be between 5 and 6% per year. They estimated this on a somewhat conservative mix of investments with 60% in US stocks and 40% in Treasury bonds. If you have a percentage invested in overseas emerging markets your rate will most likely vary.

If stocks seem a poor retirement alternative, consider a Private Employer Benefit plan. Small business owners can contact USBFC advisers to see if your company’s budget and needs for insurance, tax liabilities, potential areas of tax deferment, retirement plans as well as the family’s education funding and estate planning needs would benefit from a Private Employer Benefit (PEB) plan. Your PEB retirement plan can be a way to get the most out of the equity you have built into your company. By creating a PEB retirement plan for you and your employees, the time you spend building your business rewards you doubly by also funding your retirement.

Once you have calculated your annual withdrawal rate from your annual budget, you can estimate what amount of additional funding is necessary to add more years to your retirement nest egg. Making budgetary adjustments now will afford more leeway in budget adjustments once you retire.

Using their track record of sales, restaurants can use the promise of future sales to land a merchant cash advance. The cash advance can be used for any of the restaurant’s cash flow needs: payroll, payroll taxes, extra inventory or seasonal advertising to boost business. When future Visa and MasterCard sales are made, a portion, usually 15%, goes to repaying the business cash advance. In a normal economy the cash advance is paid off in six months, but, note many merchants, this year the normal time period is seven to nine months. However, there are never any late fees, so the ability to  automatically lengthen of the pay-back period benefits the restaurant owners.

Like many businesses whose success rides on seasonal business, restaurants find the timeliness of landing a merchant cash advance a great asset. Since traditional loans, even if they were possible can not be obtained in time to help with a timely financial need, often take months to gather and process the paperwork and risk analysis. With first time cash advances, the time from application to funding takes less than ten business days.

Tight credit and uneven cash flow problems affecting your restaurant business? Call the merchant cash advance alternative financing specialists at US Business Finance Corp to get an idea of how high a cash advance your restaurant may qualify for based on your past sales.

For many business owners trying to meet payment deadlines, payroll or periodic tax payments, the need to keep the working capital coffers full is often a timely dance. Business cash advances, even in a tight credit market, have the ability to get approved and funded within 5 to 8 working days. Far faster than traditional lending routes.

Business cash advances are never subject to the possibility of inverse loan situations – where a business owner leverages their real estate for financing and reversals in the local real estate market cause their property’s value to fall below the amount of their commercial real estate loan. If Visa and MasterCard sales, which are used to repay the business cash advance slow down, it simply means the cash advance is paid off over a longer period of time.

No late fees, no collection calls and no hassles.

Business cash advances are structured to help business owners get ahead in a business climate that makes traditional lending routes not feasible. Contact the business cash advance team at US Business Finance Corp to see how quickly your working capital levels can benefit from a merchant cash advance. Be ready for your selling season, whatever the holiday or opportunity!

Construction companies and handyman companies utilize their company credit card as a line of credit to get the wood, hardware and material for their job sites. Every month the cards get paid off from the customer payments on the jobs. The use of the credit card versus an in-store line of credit gives the businesses perks such as free airline miles and hotel stays.

However, every contractor runs into the situation where “Life happens”, a customer goes into the hospital, leaves on vacation, gets laid off, or something happens that impairs their ability to make an on-time payment. With the reverberations of tight credit and foreclosures rippling back and forth through the banking community, banks and credit card companies are moving sooner than later to reduce credit limits. No longer a three strikes and your out, more of a one to three days late and your credit limit could be reduced by 50 – 90%, severely impinging on your ability to get needed material to the job site.

By accepting credit cards for building and repair jobs, contractors benefit in three ways:

• their customers can use their credit card companies instead needing the cash to cover the work;
• the contractor’s credit card does not carry all the upfront job costs; and
• the contractor can use his average monthly credit card sales amount to qualify for a business cash advance.

By leveraging future sales, contractors can make sure their credit cards are paid on time,safeguard their current credit limits, and keep available a sizable amount of buying power to move quickly to get supplies on to a job site or meet emergency financial situations.

US Business Finance Corp helps owners of small and medium size businesses, such as home builders, law firms, medical practices and retail stores, quickly turn their prospects of future Visa and MasterCard sales into cash – usually receiving the business cash advance into their bank account in less than 10 business days. Faster for repeat customers.

Contact US Business Finance Corp’s small business financing experts today to see how your business can benefit from opening a merchant credit card account and using business cash advances to smooth the ups and downs of your cash flow.

The Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey reported that 75% of the surveyed banks had made their lending standards more stringent for small businesses trying to obtain loans. As a result of lower sales and loss of credit lines and small business loan opportunities, small businesses are more apt to let go employees and cut benefits.

US Business Finance Corp has found that small businesses with Visa and MasterCard merchant accounts have been able to tap business cash advances quickly to handle short-term capital emergencies, inventory buying or meeting quarterly tax payments. Using bursts of business that various holidays bring, many merchants see their cash advances getting paid off sooner.

Merchant cash advances are alternative funding solutions where the finance company takes on the funding risk and does not demand securities or collateral. In 2008, the Small Business Administration (SBA) saw its 7(a) loan guarantee program back only 70% as many loans as in 2007. Many small businesses have found the SBA’s raised loan criteria to be just as stringent as the local banks and don’t see the need to wade through the additional paperwork only to get turned down for an SBA-backed loan.

Small businesses using personal credit card cash advances instead of merchant cash advances find themselves in a double-bind, paying high interest and lowering their credit scores in order to fund their business. The double bind initially serves to build the business and cash flow that banks want to see, but hinder later loan applications due to the lowered credit score.

With business cash advances, credit scores are not affected and payments are made sooner with the increased cash flow. Small businesses regularly use the alternative financing to set their business up for better terms with traditional financing sources.

If your small business is in need of a fast capital infusion for meeting payroll, inventory needs or cash emergencies – turn to the merchant cash advance specialists at US Business Finance Corp. Our experts are ready to help you with the fast application process and get your business back in top form.

While banks suffer from the repercussions of making loans to the wrong people, merchant cash advance companies continue to follow their business plan of providing cash advances to small and mid-sized businesses based on average monthly credit card sales. Without needing inexperienced financial meddling from Washington to make the situation “better”.

At a time in America’s economic history when credit is hard to obtain, even by solid business ventures that formerly had no problem accessing loans and lines of credit, merchant cash advances are providing the pressure relief valve on the capital markets. In an up or down economy, business goes on – just the pace of business adjusts to the opportunities and setbacks. Sometimes the “invisible hand” of the marketplace seems to be pushing and sometimes holding a business back.

US Business Finance Corp works with business owners to provide a capital infusion in a timely manner, only secured by promise of repayment from future MasterCard and Visa credit card sales. The amount of the business cash advance is derived from the average sales of the last several months. Differing from loans, the merchant cash advance company takes on the risk of the advance – the owner does not provide any personal or business assets or equity as collateral for this form of alternative business funding.

Merchant cash advances work as a pressure relief valve in several ways:
- the business gets a fast cash infusion to meet financial emergencies, inventory outlays or due invoices,

• the business owner does not take on additional risk to obtain the alternative funding,
• no fixed payments are due,
• no late penalties are ever charged, and
• no collection calls are ever placed.

Since the merchant cash advance is repaid with a small percent of the MasterCard and Visa credit card sales over the next six to nine months, there is no fixed payment schedule or amount. With no fixed payment schedule, the business owner can not be late making repayments – hence no late charges or collection calls!

If you are looking to improve you businesses cash flow and connect your business with a secure, trusted and readily available alternative business funding avenue, contact the small business pros at US Business Finance Corp. We explain the benefits your company receives and how easily it is to apply – and to repay. Don’t wait for the banks to fix their problems when your problems need fixing today!