Wong_Go_Blog

Business owners may worry that one drawback of signing up with a de novo bank is that it's built to flip. And in some cities, there are already well-known serial bank entrepreneurs. Of course, any business you work with can be sold at any time. But according to the FDIC, only 5% of de novo banks are acquired in their first five years of business. Meanwhile, more de novos are chartered every week. Consider the extraordinary case of Square 1 Bank, based in Durham, N.C., which was formally established last August. Initially, a group led by CEO Richard Casey set out to raise $105 million, the amount specified in its charter and an unusually large sum for a de novo bank. In fact, the offering was oversubscribed at $200 million. Like other de novos, Square 1 was set on course by a merger. Casey had been an executive at Imperial Bank, where he initiated a program for lending to venture capital-backed companies. Imperial was then taken over by Detroit-based Comerica Bank. Casey left after ...

By: Dan Ackman Business owners have always had a love-hate relationship with their bankers--and these relationships have only become more strained as local banks have been gobbled up by large corporations in recent years. Sure, Citigroup and Bank of America offer their clients ubiquitous branches and online banking and even prestige--and there's nothing wrong with that. But try getting a line of credit extended quickly, let alone getting one of the bank's higher-ups on the phone. It rarely happens. And yet there's hope. As the total number of banks shrinks rapidly, a new breed of entrepreneur-friendly bank is emerging to fill the void. The boomlet of start-up activity comes after 20 long years of consolidation in the banking world. At the end of 2004, there were 7,630 banks in the United States, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That's roughly half as many as there were at the end of 1984, the year the population of banks peaked. But as the overall number...

The Wall Street Journal A staple of office waiting rooms everywhere, the Journal does not offer corporate discounts for bulk orders to new subscribers. Check for special offers on the comparison-shopping sites as well as newspaper specialists subscription-offers.com and discountednewspapers.com. And check the paper's website, too. At the time of writing, an offer for new subscribers made dealing directly with the publisher the cheapest option out there by far (56 weeks for $99); only one third-party distributor was able to beat the regular yearly subscription price of $215. (Note: This special offer was available online only; operators at the Journal's 800 number did not mention or even acknowledge this option.) The Clean-Up Crew Any cleaning service you hire should be bonded and insured--if cleaners mess up your stuff, or themselves, you don't want to get stuck with the bill. Prices for that will be higher than for under-the-table help, but worth it. Remember, cleaning peo...

The best rate on credit cards Start by checking out what your bank offers, then do some comparison shopping. As with personal credit cards, there are numerous no-annual-fee cards out there, so avoid paying such charges unless you truly require the particular services or reward-program benefits of a certain card. At sites like CreditCardGuide.com, CreditCards.com, and MyRatePlan.com (go to the credit card section), you can compare cards and apply online. Fun and Games Nothing succeeds in conjuring that giddy dot-com mood quite like little plastic soccer players. A new Striker foosball table retails for $699. But you almost always can find better deals at online specialty stores, many of which also include free shipping--which is no small matter, since delivery of a foosball table can cost a couple hundred bucks. Here's a sampling of some of the best deals on office amusements: Foosball Table Striker foosball table $499, shipping included, at justfoosballtables.com Air Hockey Carrom...

Website Hosting and Design Some broadband providers offer free hosting with their service. If yours doesn't, consider one of these low-cost options, all of which include easy-to-use design and e-commerce tools and templates to get your site up and running quickly. Yahoo Hosting and domain registration: $12 per month and up E-commerce: $40 to $300 per month, depending on sales volume Homestead Hosting and domain registration: $20 to $50 per month (plus $20 setup fee) E-commerce: $7 to $60 per month Microsoft Office Live Hosting and domain registration: Basic service is free; added features cost $30 a month Web Traffic Analysis Google Analytics is a free and useful Web analytics tool--if you can get it. Right now there's a waiting list that doesn't seem to be budging. Fortunately, Google is far from your only affordable option. Check out ClickTracks' Analyzer, a basic hosted service that charges $49 per month (or buy the software for $495); Web analytics program SmarterSt...

A company car--plus a tax break Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, individuals and businesses that buy or lease a new hybrid gas-electric car or truck, or an alternative-fuel or fuel-cell vehicle, are eligible for an income-tax credit of up to $3,400, depending on the fuel economy and the weight of the vehicle. (This credit is in addition to the regular depreciation or lease expense you're allowed to deduct for any vehicle.) If you buy more than one vehicle, you get a tax credit for each. This tax credit applies to vehicles "placed in service" beginning January 1, 2006. Once a manufacturer has sold 60,000 eligible vehicles, the tax credit for its cars will be reduced, and eventually eliminated. So get on it now. When buying a printer, check out the "print yield" A cheap inkjet may be easy on the wallet today, but it'll end up costing you more later. That's because with printers, it's all about consumables--paper, toner, etc. For example, with a $30...

Free Consulting Score, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, is a nonprofit partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration that provides free online counseling on everything from accounting to workflow analysis, provided by a volunteer corps of working and retired business owners and executives. Score also offers free one-on-one and team business counseling at 389 locations around the country; find the one closest to you at score.org. Copy, Right Mid-level business copiers can cost $5,000 and up. Because of the high entry cost, and the near certainty that the "latest technology" will be outdated in a year (if not six months), leasing--which often includes an option to upgrade and can cost as little as $50 a month--is usually more attractive. When signing a lease, make sure to clarify the service and repairs included, and what the response time will be. Beware of contracts that require a minimum or maximum monthly number of copies; work out pay-as-you-go terms instead. A...

By: Adam Bluestein Online Payment Processing If you don't need a full-blown e-commerce solution, PayPal lets you accept credit card payments with a PayPal shopping cart. There are no setup charges and no monthly fees, just a transaction fee of 2 to 3 percent, plus 30 cents--about what credit card merchant-account processors charge. Payroll Services Outsourcing onerous payroll tasks is easy and quite affordable. For a flat monthly fee, online services such as surepayroll.com and paycycle.com do all the calculations, pay and file federal and state taxes, and make direct deposits into your employees' bank accounts. PayCycle costs $45 to $73 per month for a company with 25 employees, regardless of how often you run payroll (50-employee maximum); Sure Payroll charges about $87 to process the monthly payroll for 25, and can cut payroll expenses by up to 50 percent. Playing Post Office All mail is not created equal, so if you're paying equally for all of it, you're probably pa...

"I was taken aback," says Lynes-Miller. Her instincts told her to ignore the uproar and forge ahead. But Bloomberg had other ideas. As a marketing pro, she'd seen plenty of PR flare-ups on the Web. Do nothing, and the fire likely will continue to burn on its own. Respond with anger, she knew, and you risk fanning the flames even more. The best way to douse them, Bloomberg says, is to join the conversation. So Bloomberg began writing to the commentators. She kept the tone cool and respectful, and explained what GourmetStation was trying to accomplish with its blog. That led even some of its most bitter critics to take a second look at the site and even change their minds, says Bloomberg. "I may have overreacted and not understood the entire idea of this particular fictional character," admitted one. Lynes-Miller, meanwhile, posted a comment on the blog of her greatest detractor, Hugh MacLeod, and tried to explain the strategy behind T. Alexander and Delicious Des...

By: Jory Des Jardins Donna Lynes-Miller was looking to create some buzz for GourmetStation, her Web-based retailer of high-end food, and jumping on the blog bandwagon seemed like the perfect way to do it. The medium, after all, thrives on voice and attitude. And GourmetStation--which ships fine food, including four-course meals made from recipes by the world's top chefs--has plenty of both. The Atlanta-based company's unofficial mascot is a fictional character called T. Alexander, an oh-so-sophisticated epicurean and an expert on everything from the best Bordeaux to serve with rabbit pâté to how to cook for vegans. The character had proved so popular with GourmetStation's customers that Lynes-Miller and her marketing consultant Toby Bloomberg decided that the blog, Delicious Destinations, would be written in T. Alexander's voice. With a disclosure that Alexander was indeed a fictional character, the blog launched last March. But the response was not what the women had h...

When Wal-Mart started a DVD subscription service in November 2002, Netflix stock dropped to $2.50. I was surprised they entered the market, but I knew that they wouldn't be as focused as we are. We competed in 2003 and 2004, but last spring, Wal-Mart realized it had such a huge opportunity to sell DVDs that a rental service didn't make much sense. I had dinner with the CEO of Walmart.com, and eventually we came to an arrangement where basically the companies promoted one another. We're not celebrating victory at Netflix, though, because Wal-Mart never gave its best shot. Whereas Blockbuster is spending hundreds of millions of dollars, so when we beat them, it will be celebratory. One mistake I made was waiting until 2002 to open regional warehouses for local distribution centers. Overnight delivery is so exciting to our customers and we were getting way too many complaints from subscribers that they had to wait too long. I learned from our mistake. We now have 36 warehouses...

By: Reed Hastings As told to Patrick J. Sauer Every day, a million red envelopes, carrying a million DVDs, circulate through the veins of the United States Postal Service, spreading cinematic joy. (Fargo to Fairbanks! Bustin' Loose to Tuscaloosa! The Onion Field to Vidalia! The Battle of Algiers to Kennebunkport!) It's all thanks to Netflix, brainchild of Reed Hastings, who in 1997 saw a way to combine Americans' love of movies with their love of not getting off the sofa even to go to the video store. Netflix launched its Internet-based subscription service in 1999 and signed up 239,000 movie lovers in the first year. Today it has nearly four million subscribers who choose from 50,000 titles. The company, which went public in 2002, expects to report $687 million in revenue for 2005. Hastings survived a serious challenge from Wal-Mart in 2005--the giant blinked first, or yawned--and now his focus is Blockbuster. Hastings likes to point out that Netflix is already four times ...

Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company which was founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of 2006, Network Solutions manages more than 7.6 million domain names. Their size, founding status, and longevity have made them one of the most important corporations affecting domain name price and policy. History Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company in 1979,[1] with approximately 30 employees, and focused its efforts on applications development. Network Solutions was acquired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 1995,[2] and listed on NASDAQ in 1997. John Dillon reports in MediaFilter.org, "Initially, the service was subsidized by the government. But, in May 1993, the National Science Foundation privatized the name registry (InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center) and paid NSI $5.9 million to administer it. In September 1995, NSI instituted the fee system. ...

A home equity loan (sometimes abbreviated HEL) is a type of loan in which the borrower uses the equity in their home as collateral. These loans are sometimes useful to help finance major home repairs, medical bills or college education. A home equity loan creates a lien against the borrower's house, and reduces actual home equity. Home equity loans are most commonly second position liens (second trust deed), although they can be held in first or, less commonly, third position. Most home equity loans require good to excellent credit history, and reasonable loan-to-value and combined loan-to-value ratios. Home equity loans come in two types, closed end and open end. Both are usually referred to as second mortgages, because they are secured against the value of the property, just like a traditional mortgage. Home equity loans and lines of credit are usually, but not always, for a shorter term than first mortgages. In the United States, it is sometimes possible to deduct home equity lo...

General * Equity (law), a branch of jurisprudence in common law jurisdictions * In many political and legal systems, a concept encompassing ideals of justice (fairness) and/or equality * Equality, the philosophical ideal of valuing all human beings as equal to each other. * In poker strategy, a player's expected share of the pot * Intergenerational equity, equality and fairness in relationships between people of different ages Political, social and psychology * Equity theory, on the relations and perceptions of fairness in distributions of resources within social and professional situations. * Employment equity (Canada), policy requiring or encouraging preferential treatment in employment practices for certain designated groups Business and economics * Stock, common or preferred stock * Ownership equity, the value of an ownership interest in property, including shareholders' equity in a business * Equity investment, investment in stock. It can be done through stock market (prim...

In accounting terms, after all liabilities are paid, ownership equity is the remaining interest in assets. If valuations placed on assets do not exceed liabilities, negative equity exists. Shareholders' equity (or stockholders' equity, shareholders' funds, shareholders' capital employed) is this interest in remaining assets, spread among individual shareholders of common or preferred stock. At the start of a business, owners put some funding into the business to finance assets. Businesses can be considered to be, for accounting purposes, sums of liabilities and assets; this is the accounting equation. After liabilities have been accounted for, the positive remainder is deemed the owner's interest in the business. This definition is helpful when a business is not paying its bills and gets liquidated, wound up, put into receivership or bankruptcy. Then, a series of creditors, ranked in priority sequence, have the first claim on the proceeds (e.g. asset sales), and own...

accounting analyst evaluates and interprets public company financial statements. Public companies issue these (10-K) annual financial statements as required by the Security and Exchange Commission. The statements include the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements. Specifically, the notes to the financial statements contain considerable quantitative detail supporting the financial statements along with narrative information. Description This individual has extensive training in understanding financial accounting principles for public companies based on generally accepted accounting principles as provided by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Or, he/she may have additional experience in applying international accounting standards based on the rules put out by the International Accounting Standards Board. As an example, the accounting analyst may work for a financial research company evaluating differing financial ...

Home equity lending standards are tightening due to a rash of defaults and the move by some subprime lenders to file bankruptcy or go out of business. The industry has taken a hit and less credit will be available for at least six months while lenders see what the market does. These unexpected jumps in default rates will translate to tougher underwriting standards, says Katie Porter, associate professor of law at the University of Iowa and a mortgage bankruptcy researcher. If you're ready to borrow against the equity in your home, expect to provide more documentation and don't expect to borrow your home's full market value, says Porter. 1. Fewer no-doc loans Borrowers can expect a decline in "no documentation" loans -- also called no doc, low doc or liars loans. These loans require no verification of the borrower's income strength. Lending decisions are based purely on asset value and the lender will foreclose if the borrower can't pay. The default rate on...

If you think you're ready to tap some of the equity in your home, do your homework first. The time you spend now could save you heartache (and plenty of dough) in the future. Take these four steps before signing on the dotted line: 1. Consult your financial advisers. Financial advisers know which questions to ask to understand your complete financial picture, including events on the horizon. Starting here can save both time and money while making the borrowing process less threatening. Any major financial decision should be weighed with consideration to its tax impact. Speaking with a tax professional can guide you to your smartest borrowing decision. 2. Comparison shop. Shopping is an incredibly important but often overlooked step. At the very least, start with your primary lender. One easy way to find the best deal is to use the Bankrate home equity loan rate tables to find rates specific to your area. One bankruptcy researcher draws a parallel between consumer willingness to ...

I have a home equity line of credit (HELOC) for $30,000 that I took out a few years ago during my first refinance to get rid of my original 80/15/5 situation. We wanted to get rid of that 15 percent 30-year term loan, so we went with the line of credit. Unfortunately, it's tied to prime (prime plus 1 or 2) and has skyrocketed our payments due to the rate hikes from 2004 to 2006. Any advice on how we can get rid of this line of credit through a no-cost refinance to a low, fixed rate that's more beneficial and still offers the tax benefits? Our balance is $20,000. -- Michelle Mortgages There are a lot of people out there in your situation, even though you got there in a fairly novel way. I'm assuming the refinancing took you from a home equity loan to a home equity line of credit at a point in time when there was a pretty big difference in the interest rates on the two loans. As I write this, the interest rates on the two loans are very close, with the national average for a ...

For the second year in a row, New York is the state with the highest mortgage-related fees in Bankrate.com's annual closing costs comparison survey. New York's high title and settlement costs lifted the state well above No. 2 Texas. The Lone Star State was followed in the top five by Hawaii, Ohio and Florida. Home buyers in Missouri pay the lowest closing costs, according to this year's study. The Show Me State was followed by Michigan, New Hampshire and Montana. Wyoming, which was last year's lowest-cost state, was fifth-lowest this year. The difference between New York and Missouri was $1,174 in this year's survey. That's a hefty sum to first-time buyers who typically scrimp to save for a down payment and closing costs. The average cost: $3,024 Lender, title and settlement fees totaled an average of $3,024. The median cost was $2,978, meaning that in half the states, they totaled more than that. These figures don't include county recording fees or recurrin...

Hawaii had the highest loan fees charged directly by lenders, averaging $1,922 in the survey, and New Hampshire had the lowest, at $1,401. Loan fees in New York and Texas were within $80 of the national average of $1,672. Thirty-five of the 52 cities in the survey had lenders' fees within $113 of that average, either higher or lower. One lender, many prices It's typical -- heck, well-nigh de rigueur -- for a national lender to charge different amounts from state to state. "If you go to a Wal-Mart or other store, you go to one location and they're priced differently than another location," says David Routen, senior vice president for Internet sales for Countrywide, the nation's biggest mortgage lender. "Nobody is priced the same in all areas. Even McDonald's and Wendy's, they're going to be priced differently in different locations, and mortgages are very similar to that." There was more variation in title and closing charges. Fees average...

Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become weak and are more likely to break. People with osteoporosis most often break bones in the hip, spine, and wrist. Who Gets Osteoporosis? In the United States, 10 million people have osteoporosis. Millions more have low bone mass (called osteopenia), placing them at risk for osteoporosis and broken bones. Osteoporosis can strike at any age, but it is most common in older women. Eighty percent of the people in the United States with osteoporosis are women. One out of every two women and one in four men over age 50 will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. * What Causes Osteoporosis? * Can Osteoporosis Be Prevented? * What Are the Symptoms of Osteoporosis? * How Is Osteoporosis Diagnosed? * How Is Osteoporosis Treated? * How Can I Prevent Falls? What Causes Osteoporosis? Many risk factors can lead to bone loss and osteoporosis. Some of these things you cannot change and others you can. Risk factors you cannot change include...