What are my financing options?
What are my financing options? Retirement Funds: There are two ways to access retirement funds (IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.) before reaching retirement age. The first option is simply to cash out retirement funds to provide capital for a new business venture. This move, however, can result in massive taxes and early distribution penalties. An alternative to a distribution would be to directly invest your retirement funds into your business, similar to investing your funds in a publicly traded company. Retirement money can be used in this manner without incurring early distribution taxes or penalties. This funding option can provide debt-free access to an untapped cache of resources – resulting in substantially lowered overhead. There are a few companies throughout the country that can structure your retirement funds to make such an investment.
Financing options refer to the money to help you pay for your graduate education. Your primary source of funding will be through federal and/or credit-based education loans. Typically, a Columbia Business School financial aid package will include a combination of federal and/or private loans and, if eligible, fellowship and scholarship support.
Answer There are many options and things to consider when it comes to practice financing. Most audiologists belong to the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) or one of the other professional organizations, all of which have a code of ethics that all members agree to follow. AAA and ADA jointly published an advisory opinion in 2003 titled, Ethical Practice Guidelines on Financial Incentives from Hearing Instrument Manufacturers, which is a must read for any audiologist considering financing. The paper is available at www.audiology.org or at www.audiologist.org/client_files/ethics/ethics_financial_incentives.pdf. It is generally recognized that tying financing to hearing aid unit commitments or sales can be problematic from both an ethical and legal standpoint especially if one participates with federally funded third party payors.
(While saving your own green $$$) Let’s be smart here, you just graduated college and those student loans will be kicking in shortly. So, when you’re considering making your first brand-new car purchase, make sure that you don’t bite off more than you can chew. First, consider the monthly payments that you have already, now that you’re an adult (rent, loans, groceries, bills) and make sure that you are looking for cars that are within your current budget. When it comes to purchasing a new car, there are two primary financing options: buying or leasing. While both options have their pros and cons, it’s really a personal financing decision. Make sure that you discuss and understand all of your financing options with the car dealer(s). For more information, visit the Finance section of Vehix.com. To make it easy for you, other resource tools provide additional information and will even do the math for you.
It can be daunting for small or new businesses to navigate the different financing options available, so here’s a look at what’s out there for small business when it comes to securing finance. At the very basic level, every small businesses needs a process for managing cash flow; if cash flow is managed properly, this gives a small business the right information to know what sort of longer-term financing options are suitable for the business. Proactively managing cash flow also generally improves cash available to the business: if there is a focus on ensuring invoices are paid promptly, it’s more likely accounts in arrears will be settled. These days, financing techniques such as factoring and discounting are also widely used by small businesses to improve cash flow. Factoring is a process where a business hands its accounts receivable to a financing firm to manage collection of the invoices.
