Experts are saying that the dollar is only going to get weaker.

My husband, a German, threatened to move back to Germany when Bush was elected. Maybe we should have! Anyone else been watching the euro grow against the dollar? We were in Germany exactly one year ago when the exchange was $1.20 per euro. Now it’s $1.45.

Just think if we had all decided to work in Europe then transferred our dollars to the United States. Minus taxes, think of the effortless gain you’d create.

Maybe we should have moved to Germany. Maybe it’s not too late. Check out what these experts are saying on currencytrading.net

Do you need more help learning how to invest like Warren Buffet? Most people do, with the exception of perhaps only one. Of course that person is Warren Buffet himself!

I ran into this article from the Motley Fool a little while ago called “Buffett’s Words of Wisdom.” It gives out a bit of advice that Warren seems to follow, as well as tips and hints on becoming a better investor yourself.

“I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.”

All in all it is a pretty good read, check it out.

Today’s guest writer is Houston Neal who works with City Light Financial. He has a few basic ideas for expanding with your investment properties and the financial basics of getting started.

HELOC For Investment Property

There has never been a better time to be a homeowner. From continued performance in the housing market to the availability of online mortgage resources, you now have the upper hand and are in a good position to cash in on the value of your home.

Many homeowners and investors have taken advantage of market performance by taking out a home equity loan to finance other property investments. Specifically, a HELOC or home equity line of credit, provides a way to ‘cash in’ on the value of your home and it allows you to borrow money against home equity.

So why not put your home equity to work? With a home equity line of credit you can use the capital from your home to begin earning returns from two properties instead of one.

Understanding Equity

An important consideration for any homeowner in the home equity loan process, is to understand how to build equity in your home. Equity is simply the difference between your remaining mortgage balance and the value of your property. So, as your property value increases and your mortgage balance is reduced, your home equity increases.

Equity is a significant source of net worth for many homeowners and it continues to provide new sources of revenue. Housing prices have appreciated over the past years and the national market has seen considerable growth. Certainly some states have witnessed greater gains than others and an extreme example is the ongoing increase in California property value. The state jumped 27.18 percent in home value during the third quarter of 2003 alone while the national housing market reported 12.97 percent growth over the same period. Overall, home prices are still up and homeowners have an opportunity to use equity for other investments.

HELOC vs Home Equity Loan

A home equity line of credit is very similar to a home equity loan and shouldn’t be confused for the latter. The main difference between a heloc vs home equity loan or mortgage refinancing is the way you are able to access the line of credit. A home equity loan or closed-end home equity loan differs in that the loan is typically set for a fixed amount of time and a specific amount. Mortgage refinancing is similar and gives you the equity in a single check. A HELOC, on the other hand, provides you with an open-ended line of credit or a revolving line of credit. Similar to a credit card, you are able to borrow an amount whenever you need to as long as that amount does not go over the credit limit. A home equity line of credit only requires you to pay back the amount you borrowed and is a practical and flexible type of mortgage loan.

Overall, a HELOC is a great resource to utilize for investment opportunities and other financial ventures. It helps you establish what you can afford first and provides the opportunity to manage your investment by reducing the line of credit. It can open new sources of revenue and allows you the flexibility you need for investing in property.

Last week, I stumbled upon an old paper with some scribbled notes in my childhood handwriting. In big bold letters, I had written, “WEALTH SECRETS” on the top of the page. I don’t know where I got these points, but they sure make sense. I’ve been thinking about these ideas ever since and wondering why I tucked them away for so long:

1. No one has money problems; we only have attitude problems.

2. Face your fears. After all, the best fishing holes hide in the places where the average fisherman feels afraid to go.

3. Watch where the crowd goes. Go in the opposite direction.

4. All opportunities are disguised as problems.

5. Until you know value, everything is worthless.

6. He who lives by the golden rule gets the gold, too.

7. Money is attracted to great ideas.

8. You are your wealth. The money that flows to you is just a by-product of your non-financial resources.

9. There is no failure, only feedback.

I guess you’ll never know when the creative muse might strike. Most of the time, left-brained folks never really connect with their right side. Or vice versa. …but we’re hoping you’ll be inspired to give it a shot.

Have you entered our poetry contest?

Several months ago, the muse hit me on Aridni when Dolly Pardon starting rocking:

Workin’ 9 to 5 is just your time misgivin’
Makin’ others rich while you’re strugglin’ for a livin’
While others whine on the weekend couch where they all sit,
I’m seekin’ wealth and workin’ hard so I can QUIT.

If the three types of business activities are operating, investing, and financing, then there needs to be a way to provide information about the money going into and out of each piece. Thankfully through the miracle of modern accounting, we have a statement that does exactly that.

The statement that tracks these fluxuations in the cash flow is quite logically called, the ‘Statement of Cash Flows’. From this statement you can easily determine how a company is treating that little recourse that they work so hard to aquire.

Here is a sample statement to show you the three areas and their relationship to each other. You can see that it is in essence three cash flow statements (one for operating, one for investing, and one for the financing activities) wrapped up into one overall master statement.

If the operating activities result in a negative number, this is certainly a red flag for any established business. Have they lost the ability to make money? While the investing and financing activities can be a loss without nessicarily being harmful to the company.

If the company is not making enough from operations to cover their investing activities, this could be a red flag if it continues. Or it could be that they are simply paying for a loss with other financial activities.

It’s important to check that a company can generate sufficient cash from it’s operations to fund it’s investing activities.

You can see that both sides ballance at 200,000 Gazillion Planet Aridni Dollars. The header gives the important information about the type of information and puts it into context. Next, there is the information!

Partnerships have similar features to the sole proprietor entity type, with one major difference. It’s a fairly obvious difference and is simple as the name implies. A partnership has the same features as a sole proprietor, only it requires at least one partner.

If you go into business with another person, you assume the role of a partnership. As in a sole proprietorship, you have unlimited liability. Not only do you have the unlimited liability, but your partners do as well. If something goes terribly wrong in the working of your business, it is possible that your assets could be taken away, as well as those of your partners. Even personal things that are not associated with your business can be taken away from you. Having unlimited liability is undertaking a tremendous risk.

An upside to a partnership is that it is a ‘pass through’ entity. So any business expenses and losses can be tax deductible. On the same token, the money that your partnership makes is not taxed until it is in your personal hands.

Just as the sole proprietor can go into business by simply deciding to go into business, as partnership can be created just as easily. It doesn’t even require a handshake, but it could if you wanted it to.

The partners are bound to each other by a general ‘good faith’ agreement at the beginning, meaning that they will each work towards the goals of the group without trying to benefit themselves personally above anyone else in the partnership.

If the members of your partnership wanted a clearer set of rules to do business with, then you can set up a partnership agreement. This would define things such as your interests, your goals, and how members can leave or join. There are a million different things to consider in your partnership, and the agreement is a written (or oral in some cases) place to address these issues.

If one of the partners wants out (and can do so legally according to the partnership agreement), the partnership is dissolved and a new one with the remaining partners is automatically created.

Last night, the musician screamed into his microphone, “45 seconds until the new year. Have you made your resolution?”

Did you spend any time reflecting on ways that you wanted to be better this year? Given 45 seconds, I didn’t come up with a foolproof improvement plan. Lucky for me, I have a database of favorite Aridni articles that I often look to for inspiration:

What does it really take to make money? This article guides you in defining and reaching your financial desires

Is it better to let your dreams die or do a poor job? Todd’s had an idea for about a year… but he lacks skill. What does he do? What do you do?

No longer the bride today I celebrated my one-year anniversary this summer and found a finance partner to boot for - I discovered a 5-step plan to seeking goals and reaching objectives.

Are you climbing to the top when there is no top? Before you can get somewhere tomorrow, you have to think of where you are today. Examine the corporate ladder at your office.

Make your success move from the polls to the ballot Women are starting new businesses twice as fast as men. Three success secrets revealed–

One month to impress Define your image in one month, step by step.

Now despite the negative sounding title, that doesn’t imply that the actual message of this article is going to be so. In fact, it’s simply cut off to abruptly. Instead of using this as a definitive statement or as it’s written above as a pointed question with apparently with some sort of hidden message, instead take it as incomplete.

Right now if I opened up an operating room (all legal issues aside for the purpose of this example =P ) it would only be a matter of time before I realized, “Hey! I don’t know anything about surgery!”

It would be unethical for me to book people in and begin cutting them up without the proper training and a complete understanding of what I am doing. So from this point I have two options to complete my sentence.

Have you ever considered that you are not good enough…

Yet? – Taking this route would mean training, studying, and practice. In the example above we’re going to be doing some serious time to get through med school and becoming certified. Many times it could be something much simpler. Reading some material before a meeting, organizing your thoughts, researching some potential investments, or otherwise teaching yourself something new could be all it takes.

But someone else is? – In the business of operating on people, I am not qualified in any means. I haven’t been trained, certified, or for that matter have the slightest clue what I would be doing with that scalpel. Now what If I went out and found some young doctor who is still trying to pay off his student loans and would love to come operate at my place. I’m sure that he would do a heck of a lot better of a job operating than I would!

Of course most new companies can’t afford to hire specialists and me saying “GO HIRE DOCTORS!” isn’t really helping anybody’s cause. (aside from the doctors that is!) But I’m sure you know of someone who is better at a particular task than you are. Can you ask them for advice? Note that you’re not asking them to complete the project, but simply for their input. Of course this doesn’t always work out so well, as in the case of my operating room example! “Hey Mark, its Todd here. If I was performing an apadextrodomy and I nick the bi-lateral vein and blood is shooting everywhere, what would I do?”

As you can see there it would make sense to not get in over your head, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious and strive to make you big ideas turn into something real!

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go meet with a programmer who is better at it than I am.

Welcome to The Carnival of Personal Finance #64 hosted right here at Aridni! We’ve got a huge number of articles this week. Apparently everyone is trying to make up for the day off for Labor Day by working twice as hard. =P

There are an even 50 articles being posted here, so put your reading glasses on and get to the Personal Finance! (do people still use reading glasses?)

We’ll start off with last week’s host 1stmillionat33 who gives us some investing advice My investing advice if you have $1000 to $10000

“Finding a new job can be a daunting challenge. But if you follow my simple 21-step plan, you’ll soon be battling cranky alarm clocks, rush-hour traffic, and the “living for the weekend” daily grind.” Madeleine Begun Kane presents Working Stiffed posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

“Your kids are starting out strapped because they haven’t been taught how to fend for themselves properly because YOU were so busy working your tail off trying to keep a roof over their heads!” Frugal Wisdom from Wenchypoo’s Warehouse: Another Book You Shouldn’t Bother Buying–Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead

What does a credit report look like? How can I read one? If I’m running a credit report on someone, what sort of information should I be looking for? The anatomy of a credit report

Think your finances are screwed up? It could be worse. You could be Jack Bauer, who needs much more than 24 hours to get his money house in order. Here’s something Jack Bauer can’t fix in 24 hours

From Opportunities Aplenty we find out How Aussies Get to Pay Off Their Mortgages Early

Errors on medical bills are more common than many consumers realize. This post includes steps for detecting, correcting and avoiding billing errors at the hospital and at the doctor’s office. The Frugal Duchess: Watch out for Medical Bill Mistakes!

A lot of peole are scared to start saving their money because it’s a scary world. People don’t know a lot about it and therefor scared of it. Here is an article that explain one of the most basic things that people see all the time. What Does the Dow Jones and Nasdaq Mean on the Front of My Yahoo/MSN homepage?

3 ways it costs more to be a women is Adult ADD and Money’s followup to 3 ways it costs more being a man

We’ve all heard “don’t put off for tomorrow…” but it can be sound financial advice when considering insurance. A health problem can mean a big insurance problem, as well. Bob Vineyard explains. Cost of Delay

How much does an average nursing home cost?A post about the cost of nursing homes in retirement and how to plan your retirement to protect you against that possibility.

Not dividends, not growth, but both. HJL wants to let you know why he love investings in companies that pay and are increasing their dividends.

Tired but happy has to make a choice between Roth versus the 401k.

A new blog that has popped up in the last month, My New Choice, looks like it is off to a great start. They bring us a Strategy to Curb Impulse Buying

Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is going to be keeping a good chunk of change. If you need to work on your home you might be able to as well. Energy Policy Act of 2005 Saves Me $500

FMF gives us the math behind his own retirement number How I Set My Retirement Number

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