Posted by Neil

If you have read any of my blatherings for any length of time, then you already know that I am big on actually owning stuff. Being beholden to another in any way, shape or form is a form of slavery and that has never sat well with me.I have never leased a car, but then I also do my own oil changes, tire rotations and many of my own repairs while following my owners manual maintenance schedule RELIGIOUSLY. I probably take better care of my car’s needs better than most, thus I probably get more out of owning my vehicle than the average car owner.

That stated, I can understand the point of view (partially) of leasing a vehicle. If you need to have a really nice car for your business, driving around upscale clients or just for the sake of your business’ outward appearance (showing up at a function in a dented rust-bucket doesn’t exactly instill confidence in your potential clients that you are capable of producing top-dollar for them) , then leasing could make sense.

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Posted by Michael

I got an email, well… several emails saying I don’t update enough. The People want hourly updates on what I’m doing and damn it; I’m going to give it to them. Twitter.com is where I do nearly constant (read: every few hours) updates. I promise to post more here but if you’re that interested in what I’m doing you can follow me there.

I’ll add a Twitter update to the sidebar one of these days. OK, I added the Twitter updates widget. You can now stalk me directly from DollarStackin.com.

Posted by Michael

Getting your business off the ground with minimal funding can be a difficult task. Many entrepreneurs turn to small business loans to secure equipment and other business necessities. For the credit challenged (read: poor/bad credit) this is often not an option. repairmycreditnow.com introduces an interesting approach to credit repair: Auditing.

The auditing process occurs over a period of time, and includes a number of verification request being sent to the various credit reporting agency’s. In a nut shell; RMCN contacts the credit agencies on your behalf requesting each negative entry be verified. If verified, the stuff sticks (pay your bills), if unverified the credit agencies are pretty quick to delete the entry.

your credit - negative entries = higher credit score. a credit repair service can help accomplish this.

The website is pretty simple. The homepage has text entry field for your general contact info. Fill it out and wait for a representative to give you a call. When the process is complete you should find yourself in better position to apply for a small business loan.

There are a number of ways to repair credit, some work - some don’t. I’ll be giving RMCN a try so I can post a full review.

Posted by Michael

They’re violent, they’re ruthless, they have caused misery to many, but you can’t fault their business sense: mafia bosses know how to make a profit. Its practices may be largely illegal, but Cosa Nostra is not as retrograde, or conservative, as it has often been portrayed. Its raison d’etre is profit. Like any business, it is pragmatic and constantly changing to exploit new opportunities.

Big business has learned how to sell itself to the public, with television shows such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den granting us a view of harsh but compellingly competitive environments. Businessmen such as Sir Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones have become unlikely media personalities. But the mafia has been using these methods for years.

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Posted by Neil

DollarStackin’ straddles the line between being about running a small business and managing personal finances. Some people think those are two distinctly different categories. I think those people are stupid. Personal finance IS a business, and should be treated as such. So I’ve decided to add a speciallist in the personal finance realm to the DollarStackin’ family.

I’d like to introduce our first “Non-Michael” contributor to DollarStackin’ at iStackDollars.com; Mr. Neil Smith of Lets Get Ahead.

Neil will be running a number of series about personal finance. Welcome Neil - Michael.

Pay off that mortgage or invest elsewhere?
A friend and I were having a chat one night regarding home finance and he told me of a strategy he was investigating that really took me aback and and made me wonder if I had gotten things all wrong! Should I continue on in my horse-and-buggy strategy of paying down my mortgage towards my dream of owning my home outright, or should I get with the times and follow this new groovy path of enlightenment that states you should purchase your home with little money down, a low-rate interest-only plan and then just make the required monthly payments and invest the money you would have paid towards principle elsewhere and let it earn a higher rate of return.

His position was that mortgage interest is tax deductible, and the money you turn around and invest elsewhere is no less risky than the housing market. The idea is finding a long term investment which over time has a history of performing well, but in the short term may be prone to some instability, hence a high enough rate of return to warrant a strategy such as this.
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Posted by Michael

So I’ve been checking out the demographic data for the visitors to DollarStackin’ at iStackDollars.com, and despite focusing my advertising in the greater San Diego area; only 50% of the visitors here are even in North America. So, those of you from India, Brazil, Portugal, South Africa, The Dominican Republic, Peru, The Philippines and Australia - Welcome.

It stands to reason that much of the traffic has been generated by the EntreCard system, so it only makes sense that I do a contest for the new visitors. Lets start with a 1000 Entrecard Credit giveaway. Not enough? OK - how about another $100?

Click here for details on how to enter.

Posted by Michael

Wikipedia defines:

Inflation is the rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in a given economy over a period of time.

20 years ago, the median price for a home in the United States was $112,500.00. Today, that kind of money might get you a super-car, but not the average home. $251,000.00 is what you would need today to buy an average home, on an average street, in an average neighborhood; no super-car included.

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