After 10 years as Chairman and Chief Executive of Chevron, David J. O’Reilly is planning to retire at the end of the year. O’Reilly began as a financial analyst and worked his way up the ranks of Chevron. He was also instrumental during the integration with Texaco when that happened. Taking O’Reilly’s place will be John S. Watson. Watson is currently the vice chairman. He is well-known as a strategist and a deal maker. It is possible that Chevron is hoping to usher in a new era of possible deal making and expansion.
Management turnover is a regular feature of corporate …read more

As a business owner, understand what your earning potential (EP) is can be very important to your finances. Or is it? Putting it simply, EP is your revenue minus your expenses and reinvestment monies back into your business. Determining your EP is important because it can affect the direction you take in expanding your business or even hiring employees or contractor.
As you assess your EP, there are a few things that you should keep in mind, such as:

Check you expenses to see if there are any areas where you have waste.
As you review your assets, determine their worth and catalog …read more

What are these “secret scores” that complement your credit score?

Michael Jackson does the moonwalk for the first time.

Many business owners use Quickbooks to manage their business finances as they monitor the revenue flow into their business. An alternative resource to this finacial software is Freshbooks which is an online resource for billing, invoicing and managing the finances of for your business.
Online business finance management is the key component to Freshbooks.  Below are a few services that Freshbooks can provide to you:

Record keeping should be easy, fast
Billing your customers & allowing them to process payments online
Make you look professional (think Fortune 500)
Let you manage your books without an accountant
Secure, encrypt, and back up your data

According to Freshbooks website,
Our mission is to deliver …read more

A funny video about information overload.

This is a guest post from Scott Spiker with First Command Financial Services.
Recent survey results from the First Command Financial Behaviors Index leave no doubt that the economic downturn has many Americans feeling stressed about their finances and wondering where to turn for help. But there is a silver lining amidst all of this turmoil: consumers have rediscovered how to save and that’s one of the single most important things you can do to regain control of your finances and reduce financial stress.

You might be thinking “I can’t afford to save right now.” Maybe you are focused on paying down …read more

Many people are concerned about the recession and their finances. So it is probably with some relief that many people heard the news that Fed Chair Ben Bernanke believes that the recession will soon be coming to an end.
Citing the probability that the recent contraction in the economy is slowing, and that he feels that an economic bottom is practically eminent, Bernanke is cautiously optmistic that an economic recovery will begin by the end of the year. Of course, the beginning of a recovery may mean that the recession is ending, but it will be quite some time beyond that …read more

What should you do now that tax day is over?

Investor transaction fees are about to rise.