Simply Junior

Secured lending is nearly risk free lending and much the preferred sort of loan for the financial institution or mortgage company. For most private individuals, the biggest loan they will take out is their home mortgage and for that secured lending they use their home as collateral.

Collateral is defined as the asset or asset that you pledge to obtain credit, such as a personal or small business loan. Not only your house, but your car, your business equipment, a vacation home, a boat or other property can be used as collateral when you need secured lending.

The primary advantage of these secured loans, as opposed to unsecured loans (also called first charge loans in the UK, or signature loans) are that the interest rates for them are lower.

For those who are interested in starting a small business, however, secured lending might be difficult or impossible. Most small business people, especially the growing number of entrepreneurs and netpreneurs who are starting a business out of their home, they simply don’t have the collateral to get that secured lending money.

Their home may already be mortgaged, they might be renters or they may not have enough equity in their homes. For these startup business hopefuls secured lending hopes must be replaced by the reality of equity financing.

When we talk about equity financing, as opposed to secured lending from the standard financial institutions, we’re talking about money that comes from the small business owners’ private funds or from other individual or company investors.

A company that goes public and gets an infusion of money through the sale of stock is acquiring equity financing. Venture capitalist or angel companies are typical equity financers for small start up firms.

An entrepreneur who cashes in her 401(k) to buy a new business computer and printer, who spends his inheritance on manufacturing assembly parts, who uses his savings to buy small business equipment, or sells his classic car collection to lease a storefront location, are all using equity financing to fund their business.
Generally, as far as possible, equity financing is the preferred for a small business start up fund. It is far better to go this route than to begin with secured lending options that leave you in debt right off.

The other important factor in using your own money to start up your own company is that anyone else or any other firm considering investing in you will want to see that you are heavily invested in a practical as well as emotional way. Nothing shows this more than betting your own life savings on your new venture.

Even when you look for secured lending resources shortly after or farther down the small business road any lender will want to see that somewhere between one fourth and one half of the financial start up for your company came from your own funds.

That tells them not only that you are very committed but that you thought this through and prepared well in advance. If you’re not willing to assume much of the risk, why, say these venture capitalists, angel investors and financial institutions, should we?

As large numbers of Baby Boomers reach retirement age and as life spans are increasing, long-term financial security has become a major concern among the U.S. labor market. With the prospect of reduced Social Security benefits, volatile 401K plans, and pension plans becoming non-existent, many workers are searching for other viable income options for retirement.

In the current economic recession, with rising fuel and food prices, it has become increasingly difficult to properly save for those later years. Individuals within ten to fifteen years of retirement often seek investments with higher rates of return, but are fraught with equally high risks. Additionally, in many of cases, the average person does not have the large amounts of cash required to earn the highest interest rates, which the wealthy enjoy.

Long-term retirement clubs have begun to emerge on the Internet, which remove these roadblocks for many entrepreneurs. These programs provide their members the opportunity to realize dividends, which are well beyond the reach of the average investor.

Members’ funds “piggyback” private portfolios of offline investments. Profits are distributed among the members and are spread across various stable long-term projects & ventures, to guarantee the clubs’ stability for the long term. The risks normally associated with these types of programs are diminished by pooling funds and spreading the investments across a diverse range of global opportunities.

Contrary to illegal High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP), which use funds from one investor to pay the next investor’s commission, the long-term retirement clubs are completely legal and clean, as members’ investments are combined with personal and private portfolios, which pay high rates of return. While each country has different views on foreign investments and private investments clubs, most operate in a jurisdiction where it is completely legal to manage private funds internationally.

Certain programs offer substantial referral commissions the term that referred members participate in the various plans. However, financial independence is generally achieved without relying on others to participate.