Pay-as-you-go holiday spending money

As sterling is so much weaker than it was a year ago, anyone travelling abroad for their summer holidays is going to find that their spending money buys far less. One result of this is that fewer of us are travelling abroad – see Innes Robinson’s piece ‘Recession hits Tenerife beaches’ on the GCSE blog, with its link to a video report on the BBC website showing glorious empty beaches, and the business closures, cancelled flights and growing unemployment in Tenerife as a result. Another result is that holiday makers will feel that their spending budgets are under pressure, and finding the best exchange rate could make a big difference. The BBC found that the cost of buying 500 euros varied hugely, from £423 to £463, which really makes shopping around worthwhile. 

Business angels take flight - just when small businesses need them

An interesting article from Andrew Stone this morning in the Sunday Times highlights the growing funding problems faced by small business who are looking for external investment by business angels…

Nationalisation Again - National Express Taken into Public Ownership

First it was the banks.  Now it is strategic transport businesses.  The government has this morning nationalised the East Coast raiway line, previously operated by National Express.

Sources of finance - the bank overdraft rip-off

We got a letter from the Bank of Scotland last week offering us a very generous bank overdraft for the tutor2u business…

Q&A - What are the main personal sources of finance an entrepreneur can obtain for a start-up?

In practice, most start-ups make use of the personal financial sources of the entrepreneur. This can be personal savings in the building society, a bank balance.  It can be providing assets for the business (e.g. a car).  It can also simply be working for nothing!  The following notes explain these in a little more detail.

Q&A - What are the benefits of business planning to a start-up?

The main reasons why a start-up should produce a business plan are:

Q&A - What is an interest rate?

An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money or the return for investing money.

Q&A - What is credit and why do businesses need it?

Credit is the lifeblood of any business - it is very difficult for a business to survive, and certainly grow without it.  But what is credit?

Q&A - What is a bank loan?

A bank loan is the most common form of loan capital for a business.

Small businesses in the middle of the crunch - insights for students

Lots of business surveys around at the moment provide insights that the savvy AS business student might bear in mind as they do their revision.  A particularly useful one is just out from O2…