money

The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 19: Housing Things

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A row of colorful Victorian houses.

As of May 2019, the average price of a new house in the US was $377,200, a price that will buy you, on average, an apartment’s worth of space for every member of your household. Alongside expanding house sizes and the proliferation of luxury condos is a stark reality: the United States, like many other places in the world, is in the throes of a housing crisis. While there is plenty of physical housing to be had, very little of it is affordable , especially when one takes into account that most people’s wages have remained relatively flat. For example, as of June 2019, there is not a single place in the US or Puerto Rico where a minimum wage job would allow a person to afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment.

 

Despite what looks like a bleak housing picture, people, especially in the United States, remain invested in home ownership, even if staying in their homes means stretching their salaries or spending hours commuting each week. Why are Americans obsessed with home ownership?  Does the idea of one’s house as a source of wealth hold up? Is HGTV ruining the way we think about real estate? What are the ways out of our current mess? We take on these questions and more in this episode.

Lots of interesting links below the cut

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The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 18: Looking Back: A Tax Season Wrap-UP

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A woman with shoulder length curly hair and glasses sits in front of her laptop. She holds a phone in her right hand. She is wearing a cream-colored blazer with a green shirt underneath. Her facial expression is suprised--raised eyebrows and a slightly open mouth. She points gestures toward herself with her left hand.
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

The first tax season after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was full of surprises. When the IRS published its weekly filing statistics during the last week of tax season , the numbers confirmed what many taxpayers were shocked to see when they finished their returns: namely, that tax refunds were both smaller and a bit harder to come by. The number of refunds decreased by 1.9%, while their size decreased by 1.3% (or about $36–this is a correction from the $55 reported on the show). In this episode we talk about what happened and why, our national love affair with tax refunds, corporate tax avoidance, and why the IRS isn’t pursuing as many investigations despite new data that reveals that more people are cheating on their taxes.

A show outline and links can be found below the cut.

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The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 17: Shut ‘Em Down

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A weathered blue sign reading, "Sorry, We're Closed" hangs in a shop window. The sign is blue with cream-colored lettering edged in red

On December 22, 2018, the US government entered what was to become the longest shutdown in the country’s history, when the  President refused to sign off on a Congressional budget that didn’t include a requested $5 billion in funding for a border wall. The government temporarily reopened 35 days later, but not before damaging the economy and pushing many federal employees and people who rely on government funding social programs to the edge of their own fiscal cliffs.

 

How and why do shutdowns happen? What, if anything, did we learn from this experience? What can we do to prepare if the temporary funding lapses on February 15th without a budget in place? In this episode: “savings crises,” conference committees, grocery store negotiations, and only slightly less ire about borders than in our economics of immigration episode.

 

Speaking of which, if you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can find them on Apple Podcasts , Google Play, Stitcher., or on our website. Questions? Comments? You can email us at info@financialflipside.com or find us @financeflipside on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

As always, relevant links are located under the cut.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 16: Year-End Money Moves

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a hand writes a list with check boxes in a graph-ruled notebook

As the year draws to a close, a lot of us carving out time between holiday parties and wrapping up projects to make a few New Year’s resolutions. After writing or typing out our lists, we roar into the new year with the best of intentions, armed with gym memberships, apps, and new gadgets. Yet, by the end of 2019, more than 90% of us will have abandoned our resolutio until December, when the whole cycle starts again. In this habit-forming episode, we talk about goal setting: why we succeed, why we fail, and some strategies for making your 2019 resolutions ones we’ll keep. Because we’re a money and finance podcast, and because financial resolutions are incredibly common (one poll taken at the beginning of the year found that saving money was tied with diet and exercise changes for the most popular resolution), we also discuss some things to do to get your finances ready for 2019.

Not subscribed yet? You can do so on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. Our previous episodes can be found here. If you want to talk to us about habits,  resolutions, or your financial goals for 2019. we’re @financialflipside on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Mentioned on the show:

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The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 14: Can’t Knock the (Side) Hustle

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According to a recent Banrkate.com survey,  4 in 10 Americans have side hustles, or jobs that they work in addition to their primary source of income. Another survey of 1,000 Americans from CreditLoan.com found that 15% of side hustlers want to start a business of their own. If the legions of breathlessarticles aboutside hustling are any indication, we may be nearing a future in which everyone is living their entrepreneurial dreams and working 50 hour weeks.  Today’s episode tackles the hows and whys of side jobs, including making friends with fear, adjusting to irregular income, ethical side hustling, and turning your side hustle into a full-time business.

Discussed in this episode:

How AR Your Receivables?

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When I ask business owners about their AR, they normally respond with either, “We invoice our customers.” or “We collect payments on a regular basis.”

I’m always glad to hear those responses. However, when I ask, “What is your accounts receivable turnover?” or “How many days does it take for you to collect?”, the business owner usually tells me it takes a month or two. Some may not know if it is within 30, 60 or 90 days. Once I begin reviewing their books and processes, I often find that their AR and cash management need a closer look.

Ever wonder how is it possible to be generating great sales per your income statement and have a monthly shortage at the same time? You may not be sure if your business is even achieving its break-even point (BEP). Are you meeting the minimum to cover overhead? What about sales expectancy? Are you generating a profit? One of the main reasons you have decided to be in business is to be successful in the service or products you provide. The goal should be to generate a profit so that your dreams and visions for your business come to fruition.

What if you were able to ascertain where you are currently and map out the steps you can take to improve in this area? What if you had a clear picture to help direct your business decisions? AR and cash management are areas that will need your focus and attention.  A lot of us start off and have current clients that meet our expected profit margin. Identifying your top customers, organizing invoices, and determining how to best collect on your sales will be essential to your growth.

With that in mind, here are 8 accounts receivable and cash management tips to help you get paid:

  1. Organization is Key.  Make sure that you have an invoicing system that is user-friendly to both you and the customer. It should be simple to access and issue payment upon receipt.
  2. Establish Great Communication with your Clients. During the initial meeting, share proposed contracts with details about the services being provided and your payment terms. Also, establish a business relationship with an open line of communication. Contact them on a monthly basis. Do recognize birthdays, anniversaries and add any personal touches you deem appropriate.
  3. Start Early. Establish a system that will generate reminders to your clients about upcoming payments. Having an invoicing system which will send out recurring monthly billing provides you with an organized way to record all sales and reminders to your clients.
  4. Remind, Don’t Wait. Once you find that a client is late with their payment, send out a reminder or give them a courtesy call. Make sure to be creative with your reminders and responses to nonpayment. Your client may have honestly forgotten. But, keep in mind: the longer you wait, the harder it will be to collect.
  5. Always Be Professional. As you are reviewing your bank account, sales, and expected close during the month, you may discover that some of your trusted clients haven’t yet issued payment.  This can, at times become personal and emotions may run high. Don’t allow this to drive your next step and decisions. Take a deep breath. These clients maybe be friends, network and business associates, or even members of your church. It’s important to keep it professional.
  6. Collections Call. Conversations concerning past due accounts can be tense. Establish protocol as to how the calls will handled and who will be responsible for making them. Be sure to review your “contract payment terms” beforehand and determine that you have exhausted all other efforts in collecting payment.
  7. Installment Plans.  Don’t underestimate the power of installment payments. Try offering them to your clients that may be facing financial hardship. If you would like to be of help and your goal is to make sure your accounts are paid in full, an option like this is better than a customer not paying you at all.
  8. Consider Outsourcing. Making a decision to outsource your accounts receivable and billing process might be helpful and allow you to focus more on managing your business.  Outsourcing helps to free up your time and resources. Taking a look at your weekly and monthly data will let you know immediately the state of your AR Sales and cash flow in a more timely manner. At Quality Financial Services, we offer this service to help small businesses operate more efficiently.

Keep in mind, generating sales and revenue is wonderful, but actually collecting is key to your company’s survival!  After all, “Your business is only as profitable as you are.”

 

 

 

 

 Nicole R. Cooper, MBA is the owner of Quality Financial Services, LLC, a company specializing in AR/cash management and collections. She is also an Invoice Sherpa Advisor.