Defensive Management Wastes Time and Money

Or as Monty Python screamed, "Meeting, Bloody Meetings!"

The asinine butt-covering (I don't alike appetite to anticipate about area that angel comes from) convenance of arresting administration is on the rise. On one duke it makes faculty that the convenance would be added accustomed as managers are awkward into budget, time and added ability constraints. Managers that accomplish mistakes are generally punished.

On the other, arresting administration devours time and money. Too abounding bootless meetings, micro-managing, abbreviating behavior and procedures are all targeted as a above contributors to the college costs of accomplishing business.

But how boundless is it?

A contempo informal, non-scientific concern on a administration altercation accumulation asked the question:

"Does your aggregation convenance arresting administration in which bodies are generally blockage and rechecking decisions, dabbling decisions, accepting added affair to accomplish abiding anybody is in acceding afore proceeding with a project?"

Many managers responded with an emphatic, yes! "Defensive administration is accomplished everywhere, everyday. And the costs, not to acknowledgment the abridgement of any allusive innovations are artlessly enormous," says one balked chief manager. "We're killing our ambitious spirit one arid affair at a time."

Many managers and admiral -- alike admiral -- would accede that the blackmail of actuality accursed decidedly adds to the butt-covering activity on. In awful chip companies accountability to added managers is a cogent agency in the convenance of arresting management.

One administrator offered, "I'd assumption that 50% of my blockage out with this actuality and that unit, is at atomic partly afflicted by the charge to authenticate cold affidavit of article that we've analysed and assured that it was article account accomplishing to move the business forward."

"It is not aloof the abhorrence of actuality captivated answerable for a mistake," says one supervisor, "but generally the abhorrence of actuality apparent as a lesser-quality leader."

"This cover-your-a- arrangement becomes the standard," says a carnality admiral of marketing, "and the geometric progression of accidental blockage out whether anybody is in acceding becomes self-promulgating."

The burden to over-analyze comes from B2B barter as well. A client wants to apperceive that s/he is accepting the best for less, that will assignment 100% of the time and that s/he is not activity to attending bad.

"Defensive management," says a assembly manager, "is so built-in that best of us don't alike apprehend we are accomplishing it."

Does your aggregation ability animate and accolade bodies accomplishing arresting management?

Money Management Strategies For Building Greater Net Worth and Wealth Creation For Everyone

Smart money management strategies for the average person to build money habits of the wealthy.

If there is any one, straightforward way to get better at managing your finances, it would definitely be learning from the wealthy people. Why? Simply because of their habits.

The primary reason why the wealthy are successful at having money has nothing to do with luck. If that was the case, every lottery/jackpot winner would be a millionaire. However, evidence again and again shows that those same lottery/jackpot winners always go down all the way back to their previous levels of being financially broke. To the uninitiated, this seems inexplicable, since it is assumed anyone would instantly be rich just by having a million dollars.

Why then would the jackpot winners lose it all? Simply because of their habits. Everybody knows humans are creatures of habit, but what they do not realise is that our results, especially financial results, are determined to a great degree by our money habits. It is how you MANAGE your finances, not how you SPEND. Therein lies the fundamental difference in the level of successes enjoyed by the rich and the poor.

The secondary reason why the rich get richer is simply because, since they already know how to manage that much money, they can always start learning how to manage even more. Ever noticed some millionaire losing all his business in a bad year, trying again and getting back up even better? That is simply because he never lost his good money management habits.

Now, the question is, what can you learn from them about budgeting habits? Incredibly simple, but profound. It is to assign mental purpose to your money. Once a portion of your money has been assigned a purpose by you, guess what happens? It usually serves that exact purpose. Incredulous? Try it!

So now you have learnt to assign mental purpose to specific amounts of money, how do you go about getting richer? Simply keep on practising the above exercise. Why? Practice makes 'PERMANENT', not perfect. This is because of the same principle laid out above: our habits.

Private Money Deal Structuring For Real Estate Investments

There are many choices when it comes to structuring your private money deal. In fact, there are almost "too many" choices and it can be confusing, especially if you are just beginning to raise private investor capital for your real estate investments. Therefore, what I'd like to do here is break down for you the different ways in which you can bring private money into your investment property deals.

First of all, the structure of the deal depends on a few factors, such as:

* Type of investment property (house, apartment, mini-storage, mixed use) - the reason this is important is because each deal has different financial performance characteristics

* Time frame of investment - how long will the deal take from funding to completion? is it a quick flip or a long term hold?

* Private investor objectives - what does the private investor want? are they looking for steady returns or will they defer for bigger upside?

* Tax impact of deal - what is the tax impact to you and your private investors? do accelerated depreciation, 1031's or other factors come into the picture with the property?

Now that we know some of the drivers of real estate investment deal structure, let's look at some of the ways you can structure the private money investment:

1. Limited Liability Company (LLC) - you could bring your private investor in as a member of the LLC or as a private lender to the LLC. Members have ownership interest and lenders are creditors (just like a mortgage company). Investors that are LLC members share in the profits and cash flows. LLC's work well for many real estate investment projects, from houses to apartment buildings. You can set up different classes of members in your LLC, with some getting preferential distributions of cash or proceeds from asset sales.

2. Limited Partnership (LP) - You could bring your private investors in as unit owners in a limited partnership. LLC's have replaced LPs in many cases, but there are still some instances where LPs make more sense (when liability issues with the general partner come into play). Many people have heard of LPs before and there are also publicly traded limited partnerships as well, so there is a general investor awareness. Since they have been used for longer than LLC's, LPs can have more traction with attorney's and CPA's who are working on the deal with you.

3. C-corporation - the big c-corp - you would bring your investors in as shareholders (or lenders to the company). You can have different classes of shareholders (common stock, preferred stock, class A or class B preferred stock). Private investors would receive their returns in the form of dividends from distributed profits or when they sell their shares for a bigger amount than their cost basis. Double taxation is an issue with C-corps, as earnings are taxed at the company level before distribution to shareholders, who then must pay taxes on dividends received. Dividends are generally taxed at lower rates than other forms of income.

4. S-corporation- set up the same as an C-corp in form, but no double taxation. You can only have one class of stock and you are limited in the number of shareholders you may have at 100.

When you match up the deal factors with the investment legal entity structure, you can stack the deck to getting private money more in your favor. If your deal structure is out of alignment - for instance using a C-corp to flip a property in 6 months (you'd be subject to double taxation and you'd have to buy back or facilitate the sale of the investor's stock to return their capital) - you can expect to have a tougher time putting the capital together.

Carefully study deal structures and work with qualified professionals (attorney, CPA, securities lawyer) to set everything up the right way. Good professionals do come with some billable hours, but they are worth their weight in gold when they protect you and your investors and make the deal easier to complete.

This writing is for informational and educational purposes only The contents of this post and of this website do not constitute legal or tax advice. Before conducting any transaction, please consult proper legal and tax counsel.

Adam Davis is a real estate investor, author, speaker and founder of Ultimate Private Money. He teaches real estate investors how to raise capital from private investors. Adam has completed hundreds of real estate deals- from single family house flips, lease options to apartment buildings, land contracts and hard money loans - all with none of his own money. All told, he has raised millions of dollars from private individuals to finance real estate deals. For a FREE audio program on how to get private money go to: http://www.UltimatePrivateMoney.com.

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How to Invest Money to Make Money & Avoid Bad Investments

The question is how to invest money to make money. The answer is to invest money only after asking a few questions about investment basics. Here are the questions to ask, and how to invest money to avoid scams and bad deals in general.

How to invest money, rule #1, is that there is no such thing as a perfect investment. A perfect investment would have the following features: guaranteed safe, guaranteed to make money and lots of it, high liquidity, zero costs and expenses, big tax breaks, and easy to monitor... so you always know where you stand financially. All investments can be compared based on investment basics, but no honest proposition contains all of the above features.

A scam will generally IMPLY that safety and high profits are guaranteed. Your first question before you invest money: what are the specific guarantees for safety and investment returns? If the answer you get sounds confusing or misleading, you have no need to ask any more questions. Something is rotten in Denmark, since no investment offers high safety and high profits... except scams. Now, let's move on to some other investment basics and questions to ask. Remember, a large part of knowing how to invest money involves knowing how to avoid bad investments or those that don't fit your needs.

Ask about LIQUIDITY. How quickly and easily can you get your money back if you want to cash in? What will it cost you? This is a very honest question, and the answer you get should be straightforward. You're out to invest money to make money; not to get stuck with a loser that will cost an arm and a leg to liquidate.

The COST OF INVESTING is another investment basic you need to ask about. Most investments involve charges and fees to buy, hold, and/or sell. Many times the details are in the fine print, so make sure to ask upfront. High investment costs can turn a winner into a loser. For example, a good simple fixed annuity will pay a competitive interest rate and will have no charge to invest or hold; and no charges to cash in after just a few years. The wrong annuity contract can cost you 3% or more a year in charges and fees, plus heavy charges if you cash out in the first few years.

Be real careful when an investment promises tax breaks. Ask questions first and get it in writing before you invest money. Then, run it by your tax professional if you have one. If you don't, take a pass. Your goal is to invest money and make money in the process. Not to take a chance and wind up in trouble at tax time.

Our last area of concern in regard to how to invest money and investment basics I refer to as VISIBILITY, or the ability to monitor your investment. After you invest money, then what? Can you track the value of your investment so you know where you stand financially at all times? Will you receive statements each quarter and at the end of each year showing the value of your investment assets?

As a financial planner, some of the worst horror stories of new clients I interviewed were brought to light when I asked to see their records for the investments they held. Sometimes their records or statements were incomplete or otherwise questionable. Sometimes, these investors could find no records at all and didn't know who to contact to find out the status of their investment. That's a perfect example of how to invest... NOT.

Before you invest money, sort out the investment basics covered in this article to avoid scams and other major investment mistakes. Don't be afraid to ask the questions presented here. If you are dealing with honest people, they will be glad to answer your questions. If not, look someplace else.