The following chart shows the growth in student loans between January 2006 to October 2018 in billions of dollars. In January 2006 there was 480.97 billion dollars and in October 2018 there was 1,569.35 billion dollars of student loans owned, securitized and outstanding. This is a 1,088.38 billion dollar or just over a trillion dollar…
Read more
Listen to an executive that knows their business and they will tell you about the health of the business’s Balance Sheet, because they know that it is the Balance Sheet that will make or break their business (literally). Why is the Balance Sheet so important? The Balance Sheet shows executives, lenders and investors about the…
Read more
The following chart shows the national average cost of a gallon of gasoline since August 1990 to present. An interesting point related to the cost of a gallon of gasoline is that the price increases during the summer driving season and during recessionary periods (recessions are denoted by the shaded gray bars on the chart…
Read more
Executives often talk about the business’s revenue growth, but fail to focus on the profitability of the business. Over time there have been many businesses that have grown themselves right out of business by just focusing on revenue growth. Revenue growth is a wonderful thing for any business, but revenue growth at the sacrifice of…
Read more
Thirty-year fixed rate mortgage interest rates are higher due to the simple fact that the loan is riskier for lending institutions. In addition, the borrower may be considered to be a higher credit risk, due to low credit ratings and/or low-down payments and incurring higher fees, such as, mortgage insurance premiums. Fifteen-year fixed rate mortgages…
Read more
The economy is in flux, interest rates have increased over the past year and lenders are starting to be less flexible on their loan covenants. Business executives need to be completely aware of their business’s financial condition, especially how leveraged the balance sheet is and loan covenants that relate to the debt on the balance…
Read more
The first minimum wage rate was established in the United States with The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the initial minimum wage was $0.25 cents per hour. This chart shows Federal minimum wage from 1968, which was $1.60 per hour, to January 1, 2019 where the Federal minimum wage is now $7.25 per…
Read more
Executives need to understand that ratios are derived from the key components of a business’s financial statements and those ratios need to be viewed as a system that interrelates a business’s financial statements and operations. Ratio 1 – Gross Margin Percent: All businesses have different expenses that total up to cost of goods sold (COGS),…
Read more
The Federal Fund Rate is the interest rate that banks and credit unions borrow money from the Federal Reserve. (The blue line on the chart.) The Prime Rate is the interest rate that banks and credit unions lend money to their best customers. The Prime Rate is generally 3 percentage points above the Federal Fund…
Read more
Budgeting: Is it worth the time and effort? Simply stated – businesses should be budgeting for annual business plans, special projects, capital equipment purchases, new product development and more. Businesses that fail to budget have no defined plan to project growth, manage and judge the performance of the business. Lack of any kind of budgeting…
Read more
Recent Comments