SVS Securities - ETFS AND THEIR PLACE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO?

An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is an investment fund that holds assets such as stocks, commodities and derivatives and is traded on an exchange. ETFs are very complex and each one is different, they can be grouped into “types” of ETF. These include:

• Index ETFs
• Commodity ETFs
• Bond ETFs
• Currency ETFs
• Sector/Industry ETFs
• Actively managed ETFs

We are going to take a closer look at Index ETFs:

The majority of ETFs are index ETFs and track an index such as the FTSE 100. ETFs can even be created to inversely track an index, these are referred to as inverse ETFs and use investments in derivatives to seek a return which corresponds with the inverse of the performance of the index. Inverse ETFs involve additional risks to regular index ETFs due to their exposure to derivatives. ETFs can be an attractive investment due to their low costs, tax efficiency and share-like features. ETFs are cheaper than mutual funds, mostly due to the fact that ETFs do not have to maintain cash reserves and can save on brokerage expenses. The tax benefits of ETFs can be seen in the fact that Capital Gains Tax (CGT) doesn’t need to be paid until the ETF or its assets are sold. This means that though the assets in the ETF may change, money that would otherwise have been paid out in CGT is allowed to remain within the fund where it can continue to accumulate wealth. The most attractive aspect of an ETF is its share-like qualities. As they are traded on stock exchanges, investors can set stop losses, buy on margin and invest as much or as little as they would like.

Inverse ETFs are often used to hedge against losses in physical shares during periods of economic turmoil. If the markets begin to slump, anyone holding physical shares may see the value of their portfolio slump. Investing in an inverse ETF means that investors, who have been adversely affected by market movements, can also benefit from the decrease in the index while they wait for their physical holdings to recover. For instance; if losses are seen in a portfolio, the index will probably be trending downward which will result in a positive result for anyone holding an inverse index ETF. It is hoped that the losses sustained in the portfolio will match or be outweighed by the gains from the inverse ETF. This involves the risk that if the market rallies, losses on the ETF may outweigh the gains on the equities. This saves money on the brokerage fees involved in selling and then buying back your physical shares when the market begins to improve.

Debt Settlement Legislation You Need to Understand

Advertisements for debt reduction services (which go by many names) are seemingly everywhere. Unfortunately, some of these companies are scams, while a great deal many just charge you a lot of money and leave you worse off than you started. The FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule and many state laws have been put into place to offer protection against many of these scams, but that doesn't mean you can't still get in trouble.

Types of Debt Reduction Services

Services you may see advertised include:

• Debt management service or credit counseling. These companies typically claim they will set up a plan to pay back your creditors for you, often by reducing the interest rates or even the principle so you can afford the plan.

• Debt settlement companies. These companies will usually claim they can reduce your debt by 50% or more and work be negotiating with your creditors to convince them to accept a one-time reduced lump sum payment or a few payments to pay off the debt. You will be required to make monthly payments into a bank account from which they take their fee and (ideally but not usually) pay the creditor when enough money has built up.

• Debt negotiation services. These companies will claim they can get creditors to reduce your payments, but they won't necessarily have an overall debt plan.

Scam-Ridden Industry

Unfortunately, this entire industry is plagued with scams. The FTC and several state attorneys general have sued hundreds of debt settlement companies over the years for misleading customers about what they can actually accomplish, how high their fees are and for violations of consumer protection laws and state laws. Many nonprofit credit counseling companies also had their nonprofit status terminated by the IRS for making a profit.

Federal & State Regulations

Nearly every state has laws regulating companies that provide debt settlement services, and many states prohibit these companies from even doing business. In many areas, these laws do not apply to debt settlement lawyers, whose services do have a greater benefit.

The FTC updated its Telemarketing Sales Rule in 2010 to give consumers some protection against these companies. This law applies to for-profit companies, services related to unsecured debts (like credit cards) and services rendered if the company calls you or you call them in response to an ad.

Before you pay any money to the company, they must disclose:

• The time necessary for the claimed results.

• If the service includes the settlement offer, the date the company will make the offer to your creditors and how long it will take to make a settlement offer to every creditor.

• The amount of money (or percentage of your debt) that must accumulate before the company makes a settlement offer.

• If the service requires you to stop making payments to your creditors, the negative impact on your credit, the fact that your creditors may sue you, and how much you may owe due to interest and fees.

• Your right to cancel the contract and receive a refund within 7 days of any money held in the account.

Companies that provide debt settlement services are also prohibited from collecting fees until it has received an agreement to reduce at least one debt, and you have made one payment on that agreement. This is very important to remember, and it's one of many rules that is often broken.

Before you turn to any services designed to reduce your debt, make sure you understand your rights under the law and avoid any companies that raise red flags by breaking these rules that protect you.

Grant writing is the key to achieve your objectives

Socio-economical differences are so much in existence that it threatens even the basic fabric of our society. Efforts are made to ease out the differences in national and global level in various forms. Government, corporate, foundation and various trusts usually come forward to take a lead in such welfare activities. In the process, governement grants to an organization or to an individual are sanctioned after stringent scrutiny. To safeguard against any misappropriate use of funds, lots of importance is given for right selection of fund seeker. On one side, they take care that right incumbent is not denied fund, on the other side they are cautious enough to ensure that the funds do not go into wrong hands. Proper grant writing and honesty of purpose usually get clicked if the fund seekers really know the basic techniques of Government grant writings.

Developed nations not only take care of the interest of their people, but also of poor nations in the form of different government and non-government grants for meeting the social need and help such nations to grow suitably. In case of government grant, some funds are kept aside in annual budget from the tax payers’ contribution, to take care of the downtrodden globally. This way the citizens of developed nation become a part of government grant. To bring down disparity and to help in improving standard of living of under developed nations to a reasonable level are all that really mean. In many corporate sectors, some percentage of their annual profit is spent to fulfill corporate social responsibility. Similarly, there are many social, religious and corporate foundations that take care of socio-economical and natural disaster related fund needs as mission, that are philosophically true to them. On the other hand, the grant applicant has to face tough competition to prove himself/ herself deserving enough for the grant. The grant can be related to education, business and disability, to name a few.

For proper grant writing, you can take the help of professional agencies who have thorough knowledge about grant writing and proper documentation. The application process can be long and complicated as per the business. Each and every aspect of the application process requires special attention. Another crucial factor is the application deadline. The applicant needs to submit the duly filled application form with the relevant documents attached. However, before applying for the grant, collect as much information as possible from reliable sources. Get to know more about business grant and check whether you qualify for the same.

Minority Business Grants – An Impetus to the minority community

Minority business grants are grants that are awarded to the minority community to usher in a change in their way of living. These business grants are specially given by the private grantors, non-profits and the federal government. The best thing about grants is that this money is provided as an aid by the government and other financial organizations and the money is not required to be repaid back.  The people who are termed as minority by the U.S federal government may come from various communities and might have different racial classifications. They can be of African, Hispanic or Native American communities and many others. So it is necessary to check out with the government website about the category of minority community before applying for any kind of minority business grants. These minority business grants are given for the betterment and development of the businesses of the minority community. Some business grants for minorities may also be provided to those persons or organizations that have some nature of business beneficial to the minority community as a whole.

Every year the federal government declares the amount of grant that can be given to the people from the minority community. They also set aside a chunk of money for the upliftment of the community and for their economic and social well-being. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistant (CFDA) website provides detailed information about minority grants and the application procedure. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is another government website which lends money to those programs which benefits the minority communities. While applying for the minority business grants, the applicants should be aware of the fact that government provides grants only to those programs that have wide reaching, replicable as well as sustainable benefits for the eventual grant beneficiaries. Even the U.S Department of Commerce has the Minority Business Development Agency (MDA) which assists entrepreneurs who belong to minority community. They provide well needed assistance and tips on the procedure of starting a business of one’s own. The MDA also lends its support to the small minority business enterprises (MBE) in different aspects of business like making marketing plans, providing technical assistance and also in areas of financial planning. Minority business grants are also available from private foundations, particularly those already grounded in service to the minority problems. The Chamber Of Commerce is another vital resource for communications. There are various grant writers who have requisite specialization in the specific areas, such as SBIR/STTR or manufacturing assistance grants.

So, the business grants for minorities are indeed a big impetus to the minority business community who not only benefit from these grants but can take this opportunity to prosper in their life and move forward!

Grant writing - Important element to obtain grant

Federal Government is very much keen to strengthen the weaker section through different kind of grants. Grant is as such a kind of fund help extended to many defined areas. The organizations who are seeking for government fund assistance need to be abided by the set rules and procedures formulated for such purposes. Unless you are fully aware of these, your efforts to get government grant will not yield any results. This is really important to know every tidbit of government grants and to act accordingly. In the process grant writing plays the key role. There are some basic formats of grant writing. This of course varies from case to case. Grant writing for private and corporate foundation is different than government grant writing. There are many important areas which are to be distinctly focused. After all you need to turn attention of government grant approving agency in meaningful ways within the defined frame work. Both over statement and under statement is to be avoided. It needs to be crisp and to the point and fit to the exact requirement of format designed for the purpose Philanthropic and nonprofit social organizations and business organizations are treated differently. The requirement for grant writing is also different. The primary objective, mission, organization structure, projected grant help and all other pertaining issues are the key elements for grant writing. Your knowledge and information strength guide you all through in proper kind of grant writing. Grant writing need to be supported by relevant facts and figures. Once you can present your fund need in appropriate ways you will have distinct possibility of getting grants.

Grant writing is as such a knowledge based skill job. It involves extensive culture on so many issues. You can do it yourself also provided you are diligent enough to know the art of writing grants from government and private corporate houses. Grating agencies initially provide you with the basic information required for writing grants. But this is not the end of the matter. You need to extensively work on that basic information and build up your strength in writing grants appropriately. Giving full coverage to the basic elements in most attractive and desired ways is an absolute necessity. Grant writing is also a time related issue. It is subjected to time to time changes. Your area of working needs to be within well specified area of grants. You need to be sufficiently informative about the types of grants, annual quantum of grants available in the budget and its awarding mechanisms. Knowledge about your competitor’s strength and weaknesses will give you added advantage in grant writing. There is so many such micro issues are taken into account as a safe guard measures in writing grants.

It is also a matter of fact that grant giving agencies are equally concerned about giving grants to prospective organizations to ensure the grant objectives are well met. They usually hold lots of seminar and workshop on the art of writing grants. You can attend to those and build up your strength in writing grants. Professional bodies are also available who are out and out conversant and skill in writing grants.  If you are real contender for grants you adopt any such practices for obtaining grants either from government or private corporate houses.

Federal business grants - A growth oriented grants

Business is the true outcome of much crucial integrated effort. Logistics are primarily the most important things. To manage all the business issues you need to have proper understanding of many situations. Fund management is one of the most important issues in any business.  To correctly find out the fund sources and to justify the use of it means a lot in any kind of business. Usually bank and other financial houses involve in the process of fund management. This is however a compelling need. High rate of interest and other implied conditions most of the time becomes difficult issue to reconcile with. In time injection of fund in many occasions gets affected and this results to poor growth of business. This is not only loss to entrepreneur, but a loss to the society and the country as a whole. From economic point of view, Federal government is adequately concerned about it. To put a hold on such negative situation in business, government framed economic policy that protect the interest of business houses and bring them in the path of continuous growth. In the process various kind of federal business grants have been judiciously introduced. Real fund crisis in businesses is taken care with the help of various ways and means of federal business grants. In fact right application of such kind of grants never allows a situation to happen where the business houses become sick and ultimately check the revenue earning of the country substantially. Poor functioning of any business has in fact far reaching negative effects on the overall prosperity of the country. Federal business grants in fact lend a hand to rescue the country from such disastrous situation.

Federal business grants are applicable to any kind of business. Its application varies from business to business. Lots of variable issues are involved in businesses. They are not identical rather unique in kind. Federal business grants in its process study all such issues more critically and extend fund help in different ways. Magnitude of fund needs some time comes out from the growth policy adopted by the business houses. This is a well come business policy and federal business grants love to be party to such business growth efforts.

There are of course situation arise when the business houses look for federal business grants just to keep them afloat against some temporary odd situation. Elaborate cause-analysis is done and accordingly fund help is extended. Product diversification is an important issue in business. This is viewed as enterprising and positive efforts. Federal business grants give special attention to fulfill this kind of efforts, the fund need to startup a business and the interest of small businesses are also suitably taken care through federal business grants. Depending on the actual merit of the business and the volume of requirement of fund, various kind of federal business grants are made available. Some are totally free and some are either partially free or available with no and low interest, Bank loan and federal business grants together balance the financial burden and make it bearable. Federal business grants are purely a well formulated kind of appropriate fund assistance to ensure right kind of business growth.

Business startup grants – A way to bring prosperity

Business is the most fundamental issue to Federal Government. Economy of the entire nation largely depends on right kind of growth of businesses. Government initiates various kind of policies those are favorable for business. Business grants are one of such a national policy. There is various kind of business, small, medium and big. Every kind of such businesses needs   uninterrupted fund flow to run the business and to meet any kind of business eventuality. Fund is made available from various kinds of sources.  Bank and other financial houses usually provide the fund under certain terms and condition. Such kind of fund arrangement invites huge interest on the principle amount of loan. Those who are in business start up stage find difficulties to arrange funds through such sources because of high interest burden. People become shy to venture into small business because of fund constraint. This acts as a prime barrier and ultimately checks the business growth. This is not a healthy situation for a nation. Federal Government takes it as a major threat to national economy. To come over from it, various kind of business start up grants has been introduced. This opened up business opportunities to so many people. Business startup grants all the way in large fulfill the basic economic objective of the nation.

There are various kinds of business startup grants. The type of business you intend to pursue, the product and service nature, its contribution prospects in national economy and potential of employment generation are some of the important issues considered to make business startup grants available to an entrepreneur. Your business idea if genuinely innovative, such type of business grants is made available without any difficulty.  Your perseveres, capability to do hard work, far sightedness and will to excel are the most important issues that need to be demonstrated and established to qualify to get business start up grants. In fact fund is no longer a bottleneck to start a business if you fulfill the other vital conditions. If any business product is a kind of import substitution, it is merited with preference in such kind of business grants. Business startup grants are available in any kind of business. Even trading kind of business is also gets covered.

It is objected to promote and encourage businesses through required fund help. Federal government attaches much importance to right kind of application of business startup grants and invites fresh blood in business. This changes the entire business scenario. More and more dynamic people with rare ideas get involved in business and bring perspective change in business world. Business startup grants are generally a free kind of grant. It frees you from the loan burden and sets a proper kind of environment to fulfill your business dream. It encourages a situation for self employment and brings pleasure to work with liberty and authority. You really become more confident and capable to face challenges that often come in the business. Qualitatively you become more organized and better individual. Business start-up grants bring prosperity to an individual, group, society and the nation as a whole.