Business Loans and small business Loans

The word Loan does not need any specific definition nowadays. Yet the meaning of Business Loan at this juncture could well be defined as money borrowed for the specific period of time at the agreed rate of interest by the particular person who operates some business or projects to start some business. The terms of repayments of such loans are also required to be mutually agreed upon in the official format. The definition of Business Loan is very broad and there are different kinds of such loans available to the general business people across the world. The basic factor considered while approving such loans is the viability or the feasibility of the business and actual profitability involved in the business for which the loan is sought. If the applicant borrower is new at his business, or has little experience or skill about his projected business, this may force the lender to think thoroughly before extending any lending or business loans.

It is therefore rather advisable for such new business persons to establish enough business creditability in the market and then approach for any business loans. Business credit may definitely help him getting business loans to great extent. Establishing business credit could easily be done by:

• Initiating or opting for the business credit card account and settle it in full from time to time creating good records

• Procure all the equipments and required supplies mainly from the companies that would report good and favorable standing to the business credit bureaus

• Have really good business plan and poise genuine earning potentials, letter of intent besides any types of customer contracts already laid out successfully

All such attempts could help strengthening the business person’s business credit records and ease the loan application sanctions without many hurdles. Most of time, the lenders or the financing institutions, demand extensive business plans be prepared. One should be prepared to spend a long time fulfilling the necessary certification paper work before applying for the business loan. The business loan is always permitted on the business status as well as based on the personal credit history of the applicant. Hence the business projection must satisfy the lending institution about the profitability and security of the amount to be lent, besides the borrower’s ability of timely repaying the borrowed amount. Different states have different policies for the business loans so it is rather advisable to evaluate the probabilities before applying. Even your local bankers may extend you the desired business loan as they do monitor your company’s growth, turnover and profitability. Try to utilize the most the of loan amount on the projected business to ultimately avoid unnecessary burden on your profitability.

There are different types of business loans available which include the options like secured loans against collateral, non-secured loans based exclusively on the credit worthiness of the applicant, as well as the government loans especially for the small business enterprises, women and minorities. The government loans are usually secured type of loans that are given to the business owner who can prove that the community in general will be benefited by the business project. In most of the government loans, the lending is based on the personal creditability of the applicant.

Some of the commonly and easily available business loans include:

• Loan for acquiring the already existing lucrative and prosperous business expansion
• Loans for Inventory
• Loans for Account Receivable
• The loans as working capital for converting the company’s assets into working capital
• For leasing of equipment
• Loans for the commercial properties
• Loans to finance warehouse facilities
• Loans for running international export – import business
• Loans for franchise
By: Michael Young

Getting the Best Home Loan Rate through Refinancing: Reduce Payment or Shorten Loan Terms?

If you want to make your mortgage more manageable by refinancing, you have two options: you can reduce your payment while lengthening the mortgage terms, or shorten the mortgage terms while paying more or less the same amount monthly.

You may have observed how your adjustable home loan rate has been at its all time low in the recent years. Many people have started to resort to refinancing in order to cut down on mortgage costs. However, with refinancing, there might still be an element of risk involved. As such, some people find it wiser to shorten the mortgage payment terms instead of merely reducing monthly payments.

Home refinancing is a good option for those who would like to have better control of their finances. It is an excellent way to get a better home loan rate, lower monthly payments or shorten the duration of the mortgage itself. It is undeniable how refinancing is popular mainly because it is an opportunity to lower home loan rate while at the same time get better monthly payment deals. Though shortening mortgage duration is an option when refinancing, there are not as much people who go down this road.

Refinancing to Reduce Monthly Payments

The benefit of refinancing in order to reduce monthly payments is obvious and self-explanatory. When you refinance, you lower your interest rate and consequently lower the amount you need to pay. Who wouldn't want this deal? The amount you save may be used to pay off other bills, or you can save this to pay for a part of your principal. Of course, you should never fall into the lure of spending some more just because you have extra money on hand.

Reduce the Life of Your Home Mortgage

Refinancing can allow you to shorten your mortgage terms while maintaining your monthly payment. For example, you can lower your home loan rate by refinancing, and then reduce your mortgage life span from 20 years to 15, while maintaining the same monthly payment. It might be more difficult to see how your financial burden is lessened this way, since you still need to pay the same amount. However, if you think of it in a larger perspective and in longer term, you can see how this may be a better deal for you.

You can look at it this way. Imagine a home loan rate of 5% on a 30 year mortgage. This will most likely cost you almost twice the amount that you borrowed. On the other hand, a rate of 5% on a 10 year mortgage will only cost you about 30% more of your principal as payment for interest. With the 20% difference in these two, along with the fact that you free yourself from the financial burden faster, it is easy to see how this option can generate far better deals.

Needless to say, if you still find it more practical and manageable to reduce your home loan rate by reducing your monthly payments, then by all means, do so. However, if you can get by without the extra savings refinancing can provide you; it may be financially wiser to reduce your mortgage duration instead. In the end, the choice will depend on your circumstances and financial goals.

Want more financial advice that will make a great impact into your life? We have all these and more. Visit us at Home Loan or Home Loan Rate now to learn more.

By: Alan Lim

All about anti aging

Simply Anti Aging is a complete anti aging site - packed full of anti aging tips, treatments and techniques to help you look younger and feel fantastic - whatever your age.

Beauty and age are never just skin deep. Take a look at anti aging from the inside out….from the top ten super foods to the latest anti aging creams.

Read about the celebrities who seem to look younger with every year - and how they do it. Find out about the aging process in your thirties, forties and fifties. Get the low down on the latest anti aging trends from breast implants to anti aging ingredients.

Enter your email address in the box above and get the latest articles off the site delivered straight to your inbox.

Take time to find some other great places on Simply Anti Aging:

Get the latest trends in anti aging skin care from dermatologists to plastic surgeons - brand names are changing nowadays

Take a look at our six tips to prevent wrinkles and if you want a non-surgical anti aging treatment find out if contour thread lifts really work and whether thermage is all it's cracked up to be

Tempted by botox? Find out how to budget for what might become an addiction - discover the full cost of botox injections.

Check out the haircare site for the latest on gray hair over 40; the do's and don'ts of choosing the right hair color, how to make your hair color last between treatments; great make up tips for gray hair and lots more

Visit the spider veins and rosacea site and get some great practical tips on dealing with these difficult conditions

Go straight to the nutrition site and learn about anti aging from the inside out. Find out all you need to know on the celebrity anti aging drink of choice - green tea - and how this miraculous substance delivers amazing health benefits AND helps you lose weight

Get all the facts on anti aging supplements, why taking a vitamin C supplement is a great anti aging choice, how a regular omega-3 supplement will mosturize your skin from within and which supplements to take for an energy boost.

Browse the lifestyle site for the full facts on making postive anti aging lifestyle choices. Find out why you should quit smoking, overcome stress and have a healthier, toned body by losing abdominal fat and building core muscle and suppleness through anti aging exercise

Our aim is to simplify and explain the huge range of anti aging options out there so that you can make informed choices. The ultimate aim - to help you look younger and feel great.

Do You Need A New Hobby? Start Collecting Rare Coins.

Rare coins are one of the remaining investments which can be accumulated with privacy and transported easily. Coins are classic appreciating assets with a history of long-term price increases. Old and rare coins are worth far more than face value (the value on their surface) - and more than just their metal composition - as collectibles. Rare coins are a hobby, as are they a good investment. Rare coins are the most liquid of all collecting hobbies.

Silver and gold coins are fast becoming a new American icon because they give investors economic stability, profit potential AND privacy. You may shop 24/7 for rare coins, gold coins, silver coins, 2007 bullion gold coins, gold coins and more at http://www.coinsale.org among other places. If at any time our paper money is threatened, rare coins can protect wealth much like an investment in gold bullion. You can buy with confidence from several coin dealers. The heaviest coin to be minted is the 1000Mohur, a gold coin weighed almost 12 kilograms.

Buying rare coins for own profit has been a good choice for investors for many years. Buying rare gold coins can be done from coin dealers, special auctions such as http://www.coinsale.org (http://www.coinsale.org). By the year 2015, experts believe that there will be some 140,000,000 coin collectors/investors, an increase of over 3 times that of today's buyers. Some collectors have made a lot of money buying and selling rare coins, others have lost fortunes. For instance, there are no reporting requirements for the buying or selling coins, so your own privacy can be easily protected.

Rare coins stand out as a great investment compared to other collectible items, especially for someone looking to diversify their investment portfolios into the world of collectibles for the first time. As for other collectible items, nothing performs as well as rare coins when it comes to pure investing: coins are virtually indestructible, they are easy to store, easy to insure, and rare coins are portable commodities that can be easily converted into liquid assets. Unlike paintings, sports memorabilia, or other forms of collectible items, the old coin market is characterized by well-established standards for deciding the quality of any given coin and a stock market like infrastructure for ensuring the liquidity of the investment.

Rare coins are totally immune from bankruptcy and virtually immune from dilution. Coins are not only good investments, they can be fun too. Rare Coins are trading at half of their market highs of the late eighties. Rare coins are very interesting because their rarity makes them both precious and fascinating. Thousands of rare coins are regularly bought and sold sight-unseen on an electronic numismatic exchange and auctions, like http://www.coinsale.org.

by: Perry Corman

Effective Email Marketing Campaigns

Are you interested in using email marketing to enhance the traffic and sales of your website? It can be a confusing process if you don’t know where to start. You will need to establishyour goals before you send the first email. What are you hoping to accomplish? Make sure these goals are clear and realistic.

This will help you measure the success of the email marketing campaign. This is a great way to learn what works and what doesn’t for future email marketing campaigns. While your particular goals will vary, some common ones include increasing sales, getting more traffic to the website; improve awareness of about your company and what products or services you offer, and

building a solid relationship with your customers.

As you start measuring the success of your email marketing campaign, make sure you are comparing the data only against your own information not that of the industry. For example did your sales increase by 10% and traffic to your site increase by 25% after your email marketing campaign rather than discovering the rate that sales and traffic increased for the entire industry

you are in.

Don’t be discouraged if your first email marketing campaign doesn’t do as well as you hoped, especially if you are a new business. It takes time to build trust with consumers. Make sure you use your original email address when you send out the emails. This will help it get past the spam filters.

Make sure you take the time to update your email listings. Remove any requests to opt out quickly and efficiently to respect the consumer’s privacy. You will be wasting your time to email to incorrect addresses or those who don’t want your materials. Never change the first part of a person’s email address even if the mail is undeliverable. However it is a good idea to look for misspellings in the email service provider name such as Yahoo being Yaho or Hotmail being Hotmall.

Some businesses like to use an email marketing template. Don’t get too comfortable with a successful marketing campaign though! This is because customers become bored easily with the same format. You need to keep their interest by mixing things up a bit in future email marketing campaigns. Opt in email marketing software collects email addresses from your website. This is agreat method that is simple for getting you a data base started. As your data base grows you can choose to send your future email marketing campaigns to everyone on the list or just a select target group based on their purchasing history.

You will need to design your email marketing campaign very well. It needs to be attractive to hold the attention of the consumer long enough for them to decide it is worth reading. You don’t

want your efforts to be mistaken for common spam or junk mail right? Make sure all the content is spelled correctly. Keep the text short and to the point. Readers who open your email may choose to delete it or save it to read later if it looks to lengthy. You want them to open it, be captivated, and read it. The first sentences need to identify your company and what you are offering. Place the important information first. Then reader is likely to keep reading. Give them a sense of urgency for responding by clearing stating the day the promotional offers expire.

Email marketing is an effective tool if you take the time to use it properly. It is anticipated to be the most used method of advertising on the internet by 2008. While this means you will have lots of opportunity to market your business, it also means there is going to be a great deal of competition trying to get consumers to look at their business. You will have to be creative and work hard to develop effective email marketing campaigns that are attractive, informative, and encourage the consumer to take action. Len Hutton is an information publisher specialising in helping people start their own home based business. You can read up on how to create your own info products in one day without writing a single word by going to http://www.nicheresidualincomes.com/

How To Turn Other Peoples Hard Work Into A Part Time And Instant Internet Business http://www.nicheresidualincomes.com/underground.htm

by: Len Hutton

Harness The Power of Membership Websites

Look through the eyes of your members and you might be surprised. You might find new ways to meet their needs. You might find new ways to offer benefit. Heck, you might even be able to anticipate there needs – there’s no better money maker than that!

What do members want?

The best way to answer that question is to ask yourself. What do you want from a membership site?

Take a moment and write down 10 things that you want from the membership sites that you belong to.

Go ahead...we’ll wait.

Okay, you have your list? Let’s see if it matches any of the items that we came up with.

Presumably you want:

A trusted source of information, products, and resources.

A wide variety of resources that meet your needs with multiple price points

Easy to use website

Easy to process transactions

Membership policies that make sense

Subscriptions that are worth their price

Subscriptions that are easy to renew or cancel

Updated content

Updated resources

A way, or many ways, to communicate with members and website staff

An efficient customer relations protocol

An easy way to return products

Clearly established terms of use

A website that protects your privacy – and doesn’t sell your information

Communications, via email or newsletter, that are frequent enough to keep you in the loop but not so frequent that you feel hassled.

A website that is fitted specifically to meet your needs

Does that cover it? Not likely. That’s just a short list of the things you probably want from a membership site that you belong to. You may also want to be able to use the site, products, and contacts that you make to generate profits. You certainly want to belong to a membership site that you can be proud of and that is recognizable – this means you’ll more likely be a loyal and frequent visitor if not a frequent purchaser.

Now comes the second question…

What can you do to make your membership site meet the needs listed above, and any others that you came up with?

Many of the needs are fairly easy to fill. Customer relations can be automated. Billing, renewals, and auto responder thank you messages can be automated. Content, much of it anyway, can be outsourced. Terms of use and policies can be posted on your website and handed out in the form of a report when members subscribe. Affiliate programs and other wealth building tools can be automated. That leaves a few things: making sure that your customers know that you’re an upstanding site with their best interests at heart, keeping the quality content, resources, and products up to date and quality, and tying all of their needs together into a cohesive website. Not too hard, right?

It doesn’t have to be. Use the resources that you have, such as those at http://MembershipMillionaire.com, to make your membership site the absolute best that it can be for you and for your members.

by: Jeremy Gislason

Does Coffee Have Any Antioxidant Benefits?

Before we get all excited over the recent news about coffee being our new antioxidant, we need to take a look at the entire picture. Is there truly a coffee antioxidant? If there is, how exactly is coffee an antioxidant? Does it become the antioxidant when it's heated? Does the coffee antioxidant benefit everyone? Are there still dangers to drinking coffee? How much coffee is good for us and when does it become bad for us?

Brewed coffee contains many antioxidants and consumption of antioxidant-rich brewed coffee may inhibit diseases caused by oxidative damages. Antioxidants are said to be an inhibitor of certain types of diseases. However, coffee beans are not all a like. Not all coffee beans are of the same quality or even the same make up. Sort of like comparing tennis shoes to sandals. Both go on your feet, but they are not made up of the same components. You can actually break coffee down into several different water-soluble components. The dietary fiber derived from roasted coffee silverskin. This is one component of the coffee bean that has high antioxidant content. This is how the scientists find out about the antioxidant benfits of coffee in their studies. What they do in fact is the break down the coffee beans into different components. They filter out the components that the coffee antioxidant is found in, and then they test lab rats in a variety of experiments to determine how well they survive with or without the various additives in their diet. When they discover something really swell, like a coffee antioxidant, our culture of coffee drinking addicts suddenly becomes a feverorish mob.

For years and years we've heard bad things about coffee. For example: it's bad for your heart, increases blood pressure, may cause breast cancer, probably keeps you awake at night, and my personal favorite, has a poisonous gas when brewed.When the world of coffee addicts even gets a tiny hint that coffee could have something beneficial, believe me they don't just drink more coffee, they try to get everyone to join them. So, here we now have scientific studies proving to us that coffee has antioxidants.

Researchers have identified several compounds in coffee that create a coffee antioxidant. Why would this be of interest to us? Because scientific studies are showing that antioxidants may help prevent cancer. You see the connection here. However, until human studies are done, science cannot state exactly how much coffee must be consumed in order gain this protection against colon cancer or any other type of cancer. Before the coffee is roasted the antioxidant benefits are varied. However, once the coffee is roasted and served as a drink things get evened out. They all seem to have the same degrees of antioxidants.

Some studies suggest coffee having other benefits such as added fertility in men and some benefits for those suffering from diabetes. You'll have to read those studies on your own. The fact that a coffee antioxidant exists may be true, but the reality is that coffee can be just as harmful if your body doesn't like it, if you consume too much, if you have high blood pressure, and if it keeps you awake at night. Is there truly a coffee antioxidant? Yes, but the actual amount needed to be consumed in order to receive the anti-cancer benefits by humans is unknown. How exactly is coffee an antioxidant?

Coffee alone isn't the antioxidant, it's several different components that are part of the coffee bean. Roasting and heating the coffee changes the total antioxidant output. Does it become the antioxidant when it's heated? It seems that although some coffee beans like green coffee beans may be higher in antioxidants that other more common beans, once they are roasted and heated for consumption, the results are the same regarding the antioxidantal benefits. Does the coffee antioxidant benefit everyone? Honestly, this is NOT a question easily answered. In fact, the truth is it is still unknown just how beneficial coffee antioxidants are for humans. Are there still dangers to drinking coffee? Yes, of course there is. If you have high blood pressure and you have seen how coffee enhances this problem, you know it's bad for YOU personally. If you can't get proper sleep or you drive everyone around you nuts because you can't sit still or shut-up, you know coffee is bad for you.

Use common sense and listen to your body. Coffee is not good for everyone and unknown just how good for anyone. How much coffee is good for us and when does it become bad for us? Again drink coffee in moderation, pay attention to your own body. Exercise and good eating habits are a far better way to get healthy than drinking 10 cups of cappuccino a day. All things in moderation. After reading everything about this new thing called a coffee antioxidant I have decided that there are better ways of getting antioxidants into my blood.

Coffee may have many benefits, but so does water and it is possible to drown from drinking too much water. Yes, I know, you have to really drink a lot to accomplish this, but it's the principle of the matter. Too much of anything is not a good thing.

by: Aaron Matthews Morgan

Making Your Business Click

The lifeline of most businesses rely heavily on the amount of marketing support can be supplied. There is no doubt that marketing collateral in the form of establishing identity and brand existence are key factors in helping make businesses known. These marketing collaterals can be likened to arming the key personnel in a business such as business cards, flyers, brochures and multimedia material to be able to provide the necessary information and image that a company wants to project.

Marketing collateral does not have to be high cost in nature. Resourcefulness and innovation of the company through its current roster of personnel can help ignite and produce the necessary collaterals a business can lean on. Understandably, cost and expenses are two of the things that business owners are not too keen on hearing. But the supplement of expected outcomes from the investment of marketing collaterals through advertising and promotions will provide a better overview of what to results to expect from such programmed marketing efforts by assigned people of the company.

The hardest part of establishing a business is to spread the word that such a company and its products or services are indeed available. The success of a business lies heavily in providing the necessary information of the existence of such, the purpose of which is to try and penetrate a market properly.

To start things off, the need for proper product or service orientation should be established. Consumers will not immediately rely on mere image and word of mouth. This is the job that is tasked for most marketing executives, to build on the product and make the consumers understand the benefits and fruits that the product brings. This is best done through the use of supporting promotional materials in the form of flyers, posters, and TV commercials if costs are permitted. Making such mediums available to consumers in the easiest way possible for them to get acquainted with the product being pushed is the best way to kick off a product’s existence in the market.

After a successful product orientation towards the target market that a company has focused on, the next thing to handle is the places where the product will be available. Supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores, and specialty shops, the mode of availability will be the critical aspect since this will largely depend if the product is readily available. For sure, people will not go out of their way to exert much effort in finding where the product may be. Thus it is the task of the business personnel to make sure that all possible distribution channels are covered, with the target market class under consideration as well. While flyers and posters may be spread all throughout affiliated stores and outlets, it is still the best practice to make sure that the product itself is available in target modes of distribution.

The set price for most consumer goods and commodities today play an important role in enticing consumer demand. While this is more psychological in nature, it cannot be discounted that business executives must determine an acceptable price to jack up their sales and consumer patronization. Pricing has its share of conflicts. Low prices may carry with it low quality product tags, while higher priced goods may push customers to look for alternative products. This is why it is essential that research and development teams must prepare a good comparison of product availability before finally deciding on a set price. The price should also consider the usual costs such as the administrative and operations cost, mark-ups and other related costs for manufacturing the product. The marketing collaterals will also fall under the administrative and operations cost, usually under the advertising and promotions part.

Defining the target market area as well as the consumer class will help determine the degree of saturation in the market a business should aim for. Identifying where the target market class resides or stays in is a good way to help in trimming down the area needed for saturation. Focusing the marketing collaterals in the area where the identified consumer class is situated is a good way to establish identity in the area. This should be a good way to start in effectively covering key areas for segregation prior to aiming for a larger market share.

The attention, complaints and distribution of the product or service still lied in the hands of the people hired to do the life blood of the company. Similar to a soldier going off to war, providing the sales force with business cards, marketing portfolios and other marketing paraphernalia is the best way to make an impact. Other than motivating the sales people to bring in the sales, making sure that they have the necessary materials to show are mirror-like images of the company. They represent the company and whatever they project speaks entirely for the business venture.

by: Jon Caldwell

Smart investments for young professionals: whether you have $500 or $5,000, here are great places to stash your cash (II)

Beyond that, if you can commit your money for five or more years, you'll want to steer it towards faster-growing vehicles. In general, that means stocks: Over time, they've outpaced almost every other type of investment. Going back 50 years, for instance, equities gained an average of 12.6% per year, while corporate and government bonds and Treasury bills sputtered along at about 5%. Meanwhile, inflation (as measured by the consumer price Index) ticked up at an annual rate of 4.3% over the last half-century.

Thus, "if your (investment) horizon is long, the place to be is in stocks," says Ivan Thornton, a financial consultant at Shearson-Lehman Brothers in New York. "In fact given the way inflation cuts into your spending power, you can't afford not to be in them." The question, then is which type of stocks? And what are the best ways for young people to get into the market? Here are some suggestions.

You Have $500-$1,000 To Invest

If you're a novice investor, your first dive into the stock market should be a cool glide - not an icy splash. The best way to invest a small amount of money in stocks, then, is through mutual funds, which enable you to buy into a diversified portfolio of hundreds of stocks and bonds. Funds offer another advantage besides diversification: They're managed by expert stock pickers whose sole job is to follow the market.

The hitch? Many mutual funds have recently raised their minimum initial investments from $500 to $1,000, making it tougher for new investors to get their feet wet But there are two ways to buck the rules. The first is to open an individual retirement account in the fund of your choice: Some fund companies who impose minimums of $3,000 or more will accept IRA contributions of as little as $500. Aside from any 401(k) program that you may be eligible for at work, this is the best way to invest in funds, since earnings from both IRAS and 401(k)s accrue tax-free until you withdraw the money at retirement.

Cheryl Derricotte, 28, a consultant for the Seattle nonprofit housing developer Common Ground, is determined to revup her $30,000 salary through investments. On the advice of her financial planner, Oakland-based Cheryl Broussard, Derricotte began contributing $50 each month to an IRA. Derricotte plans to transfer the money to a socially responsible growth stock fund like Calvert-Ariel Appreciation, which avoids companies that invest in South Africa or sell weapons (minimum IRA investment, $1000; 800-368-2748). Another option is Pax World, a balanced fund which buys a mixture of stocks and bonds and steers clear of the gambling, liquor and tobacco industries (minimum investment, $250; 800-767-1729).

"When you're young and just starting to invest, you need to look at more growth-oriented vehicles," says Broussard. The logic? Time - to rack up stellar gains like those cited above - is on your side. To achieve her financial goals, which include starting her own business, Derricotte plans to make monthly, equal payments into her mutual fund picks. Known as dollar - cost averaging, this investing tactic ensures that you're scooping up more shares when prices are low, and fewer when prices are up. As for her new attitude about investing? "I felt it was time to start taking my own money as seriously as I take the public's money," laughs Derricotte.

by : wowo

Smart investments for young professionals: whether you have $500 or $5,000, here are great places to stash your cash (I)

You've just pocketed an awesome graduation gift - the kind that folds. Or perhaps you scored a nice sales bonus at work. Maybe you even received a hefty tax refund from Uncle Sam. No matter what the source of the cash - whether it's a modest $500 or a meaty $5,000 - you now have the happy task of figuring out what to do with it. The Caribbean is calling ... you can taste that Pina Colada, smell the salty air, feel the palms swaying ...

Snap out of it. True, this kind of dough is enough to drum up some serious fun, yet not enough (not by a long shot) to allow you to declare financial independence and withdraw from the nine-to-five set. Still, if you cultivate your stash carefully, it can become a powerful tool to help you realize your dreams and financial goals. After all, "It doesn't really matter how much money you have to invest to begin with," says Don Phillips, publisher of Morningstar Mutual Funds, a Chicago-based mutual funds ranking service. "The trick is to get into the game."

Before you consider locking even a cent of your newfound nest egg away, however, make sure you have enough extra cash at the ready. Typically, financial advisers suggest keeping at least three to six months' worth of living expenses on hand to cover any unexpected financial demands. "To really make your money grow, you'll want to invest it someplace for several years," explains Lynn Ballou, a financial planner in Lafayette, Calif. "And because investing can be risky - a market may drop or dry up just when you want to cash out - you shouldn't do it with money that you may need to live on."

Where to park your funds, then, if you'll need them back in less than five years? The surest, safest places are bank certificates of deposit where, usually for minimum initial investment of a few hundred dollars or less, your funds are insured by the U.S. government for up to $100,000. Recently, rates for six-month CDs were about 3.10%. Care to up the ante with slightly more risk to your principal? Then consider short-term bond funds. Two winners are Babson Tax-Free Income-Short Term (recent yield: 4.43%; 800-821-5591) and Strong Short Term (taxable; recent yield, 7.33%; 800-368-3863). Both have minimum investment requirements of $1,000.

by: wowo