Tempe Chamber Hosting FREE Business Solutions Clinic is a post from: Rail Life

The Tempe Chamber of Commerce is offering a FREE Business Solutions Clinic for all Chamber members. Through its Business Resource Advantage Committee, the Tempe Chamber will organize and host this FREE event which provides instruction on six different areas of business.  The event will be held at the Tempe Chamber offices on Feb. 25 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m and business owners can book a 30-minute appointment to meet with an expert and ask questions pertaining to that business topic. The Tempe Chamber of Commerce is located at 909 East Apache Blvd.

As a member of the Business Resource Advantage Committee, I can tell you that this will be a great way for business owners to get answers from some top notch professionals willing to share their knowledge with fellow members of the Tempe Chamber. Do yourself and your business a favor and get some FREE advice!

For more detailed information, please see the post about the Business Solutions Clinic at The Social Latte.

Following is information about the event directly from the Chamber:

Tempe Chamber Member,

Is your company trying to do more with less? Are you stretching your budget while trying to maintain the level of customer service and expertise you pride yourself on?

If so, I bet you might jump at the chance to secure $700 worth of free counseling sessions with lawyers, accountants, marketing gurus, tax specialists and other industry experts. You’re in luck. The Tempe Chamber of Commerce is pleased to offer our members (that’s you!) this very opportunity.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, from 1-5 p.m. we are hosting a Business Solutions Clinic to provide one-on-one, complimentary, confidential business counseling sessions to help you benefit from the advice of experts.

This panel of mentors comprises Tempe Chamber members who will provide individual sessions for pre-registered participants. Each session will take place between you and the mentor behind closed doors. No sales pitches, no hassles – nothing but honest advice and tips on the subjects of your choice.

The event is organized through the Tempe Chamber’s Business Resource Advantage Committee. Sessions are offered in half-hour increments and are presented by:

Taxes / Accounting – Laura Opstad:

Marketing / PR - Diane Wallace:

Sales – Anita Grantham:

Legal - Joan Jakel-Smith:

HR / Workers’ Comp. & Insurance - Neil Chitel:

Finance & Banking – Peter Eberle:

In addition, a SCORE representative will be onsite to answer general questions for all attendees. Refreshments will be provided by Marketside at Rural and Elliot.

Participants must be members of the Tempe Chamber. All sessions must be reserved in advance and walk-in guests cannot be accommodated.

While we still have some slots remaining, they are filling up fast. Slots are booked based on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, please contact Sachiyo Ragsdale at sachiyo@tempechamber.org or (480) 736-4285. For full details on our presenters, visit their LinkedIn accounts above or go to http://bit.ly/cHL252.

** Update:  Some things to consider**

HR/Payroll/Workers Comp

1) Are your employees classified correctly, for Workers Comp and Exempt / Non-Exempt?

2) Do you Qualify for a Workers Comp Emod – What is an Emod and how does it affect my policy rates?

3) Group Healthcare and how can I keep it without making me broke!

4) Ways to keep your employees happy in these hard times, suggestions on how to cut back without layoffs!

5) I have no employees they are all 1099; Really? Learn the Factor 20 test the IRS uses, could save your company!

Accounting

1) What is the difference between expensing and capitalizing costs?

2) Will your salary as a corporate officer pass an audit?

3) What documentation does IRS require?

4) What are the problems with having a shareholder loan with your corporation?

5) Are you confident your books/tax returns are accurate?

ASU Hot Money Topic: The Best Investment For College Students? is a post from: Rail Life

This was passed on through a friend of mine and sounds like pretty sound advice:

If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left. 

With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000. 

With AIG, you would have less than $15 left.  

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 cash.

Based  on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

(Hat Tip Drew Meyers and Michigan Green)

ASU Hot Money Topic: Rollin’ on 24′s? is a post from: Rail Life

Do you roll in a tricked-out-Hummer ridin' on twenty-fours?

Ok, ok, so maybe you are cool.  Or maybe your parents set up a trust fund for you before you were born.  Or maybe you got beat up too much in high school. 

No matter what the reason that you are ridin' high and wide — everyone who sees the bottom of your bumper in their rear view mirror has pretty much the same thought as they moving over to the slow lane and letting you pass by…

"That dude must spend a fortune on gas!"

And as much as you don't like to admit it, there just isn't a way to hide the fact that filling up costs you north of one-hundred-dollars and that is some serious cheddar no matter how big your trust fund is.

So here is my little contribution to all folks who are brandishing gas-guzzlers out there:

Find the cheapest gas anywhere in Phoenix at PhoenixGasPrices.com.

Now, for the next 100 or so days until the light rail opens and all Hummer owners can trade-up for a transit pass I expect this site to get a lot of traffic with people looking to save some serious dough on gas.

After the light rail opens?

Not so much.

After all, bling is out and green is in.

Might be time to start thinking about trading your H2 on 24's in for a Stumpjumper and a transit pass before all of your cool friends do. 

ASU Hot Money Topic: Build Good Credit is a post from: Rail Life

If you are on currently on the full-ride-mom-and-dad scholarship, stop reading this post right here. 

What I am about to say will most likely be a waste of your time because your parents have probably solved this problem for you without you even knowing.

Just keep riding the gravy-train-with-biscuit-wheels right up until it pulls into the station and lets you off to ride even bigger waves in life.

And now for the rest of us "normal folks" who are working at least one job while carrying 15 credits and still find ourselves stuck in the line with other folks who are trying to get a Pell Grant and a Stafford Loan…

Pay special attention because some of you are suffering from "N/A" and may not even know it.

Most people who suffer from "N/A" aren't aware they even have it because no one has told them.  Even worse, if you do have "N/A", you may not be sure what to do in order to cure yourself of "N/A" or how long it takes to get cured of it if you actually have it.

Have you heard of "N/A" before and are you aware of what causes it?

"N/A" is a type of credit score that stands for "Not Applicable" and it means that you have something that is almost as bad as having bad credit — no credit!

The easiest way to find out if you have "N/A" is to go to AnnualCreditReport.com and print out your credit report. 

Once you have your credit report, you can easily see if you have "N/A" – and if you are one of the unlucky people who has "N/A"?

The good news is that "N/A" is relatively easy to fix! Here are three simple things that you can do to get rid of "N/A" and start building good credit:

Open a checking and a savings account at any of the local banks. This is one of the few things that you can even if you are still under 18. If a bank tells you that you can't open a checking/savings account until you are 18, try a different bank.

Ask your Mom/Dad who has perfect credit to add you as a joint-account-holder on one of their credit cards.  Be careful, being a joint-account holder will help you establish credit but will also make you liable for charges, so make sure that you don't end up supporting your parents bad habits if they can't use the card wisely!  Up until recently, you could have just been added as an authorized user, but recent changes have made it so that just being an authorized user on your parents card no longer helps build your credit.

Apply for a credit card on your own. You see the credit card offers papered all over campus – fill one out! Credit cards are not bad or good – they are only bad if you use credit unwisely.  They are only good if you use them wisely.  So it is up to you!  Ask the card issuer to start with a small balance ($500) and use it for a few months to buy your usual stuff and pay it off. By actually using the card and paying it off, you will be building your credit. Just remeber not to charge more than you can pay off in a month – carrying a balance on a credit card is a financial trap that is best avoided while you are in college.

Ok, by doing any combination of these three things, you should cure yourself of "N/A" if you had it.

And if you do it right, getting rid of "N/A" can be a lot of fun!