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How a Financier Reads a Business Plan and Tips for Writing a Business Plan
This article explains the importance of a business plan when seeking help from a financier. In addition it provides useful tips for writing a business plan.
A business plan has four main purposes.
1. To establish the viability of your business
2. To document your objectives and forecasts for the business
3. To benchmark and measure progress
4. To communicate your plans to outsiders such as a financier
There are two types of financier, the lender and the investor that you may approach or who may be interested in your company venture.
The Lender i.e. a bank will be looking to see how you propose to handle potential risks that your company may encounter. Their main concern is regarding the security of the repayments for the money they have loaned you, and will therefore want to ensure that you will be managing the companys risk wisely. As well as checking your credit rating a bank manager may ask you a number of questions in an interview which you will need to be able to answer, such as:
Why do you need the amount requested?
What will you do with it?
How do you know its enough?
How much less can the company survive on?
What other sources of finance do you have or who else are you borrowing from?
How are you going to pay it back?
What collateral or guarantee do you have?
You need to ensure that these questions are already answered in your business plan as it is much harder to change the managers mind in your interview with them. The bank will look for collateral and cash flow within your plan.
Make sure you are not afraid to ask for the exact amount required, because if they lend you an amount that is not enough to get the business going and you need to ask the bank for more money, they may question how well you have planned your financial requirements. This could make them sceptical about lending you more.
Professional Investors accept risk, although they will try to limit their exposure to it. The questions they may be asking themselves while reading your business plan are:
How much can I make? They are usually looking to make around 30-50% annual compound growth on their investment
How much can I lose? What is the risk of losing their investment?
How can I get my money back or out of the company?
Who else is investing it this company?
So now you know why it is important to have a business plan when seeking investment from a financier, the article will give some useful tips for what to include in the business plan. The business plan should summarise the following points:
The overall objectives of your company.
Who your clients will be and their current buying behaviour.
Who your suppliers are and how much bargaining power they have.
Who your competitors are and how you will differentiate yourself from them.
Who are the key personnel and what their core skills are.
How the business will operate, including the assets needed to run it.
How much finance is required; and contingencies should sales fail to meet the forecasted level.
To conclude, business plans are very useful for raising finance for a business. Even if you are lucky enough to be in a situation where you do not need to raise capital, preparing a plan will help focus your thoughts, check your calculations, help you monitor results and enable better communication of your ideas.
Pay Off Car Loan Ahead of Time
Paying off your car loan early when you have the financial flexibility is a sagacious move that could earn you good credit points and allow you to recover a few hundreds of dollars. Most auto loan agencies may frown upon such practices since they earn their keep through interest. Many lenders, however, applaud the move since they believe that loaners that can pay off loans ahead of time are likely to be repeat clients.
In any case, customers that shell out more to pay off the principal can save a lot on interest charges. If you’re planning to do so, see your loan agents and ask for how to go about it. Below, though, are some ways you can do in reducing the number of your monthly payments.
First off, review your loan documents to see whether your automobile plan is a pre-computed interest or a simple interest loan. If it is the former, then you may not be able to recover or set aside any money since the interest has already been included to your loan at the get go. If it is the other way around, then paying it off early will do you a lot good and you may be able to fatten up your savings account a bit.
If it is a basic plan with simple interest, you can switch to a bi-weekly payment plan. This scheme allows your payment to coincide with your paycheck schedules. Check with your agent first as some schemes may come with a hefty price tag. Ask for information especially those regarding additional charges.
Another way to repay your loan faster is to apply an additional amount to the principal balance. Compute your extra payment against the condition and size of your loan. This way you can shave off two to three years off your term. When doing this method, make sure you include a note with the payment denoting that the extra amount should go towards the principal balance, otherwise the spare amount of money will simply be applied in the same manner as your monthly payments. In simple words, write “Principal Only” on the check so that they don’t apply the payment to your next month’s bill.
To help you with your computation, you can go online and try to utilize the many car loan calculators. The tool will help you estimate how much you can pay and how many months you can trim down from your term. Review your monthly expenses and savings and try to gauge how much of your liquid assets can be allocated for an early repayment scheme.
Don’t fret much when you think you’re ensnared in a long-term car loan. An auto loan shouldn’t make you feel like you’re serving a life in the slammer. If you’ve done enough to make your finances a little bit adaptable, then there is always hope to repay all your credits. Stop worrying. Consult a financial adviser or a loan agent now and ask them to show you just how easy it is to get your hands on that car title.