FINANCIAL HOUSEKEEPING | Get business-planning help
Many consumers dream of being their own boss and running their own business but have little to no know-how to get started or where to look.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has a wide range of tools and links on its website that can help. In particular, the “small business planner” can help someone plot a venture from raw beginning to final exit through retirement, sale or liquidation.
In the interim, however, the planner can help someone find resources for financing a startup, buying a franchise business and more.
For information, check out the Small Business Association website, sba.gov.
SHORT COURSE | New economy versus old economy
These two phrases are tossed around a lot on talk radio and business television, but many investors still don’t understand the difference.
“New economy” is a buzzword for new, high-growth, technology-driven industries that are considered to be the driving force behind economic growth. The term came into vogue in the mid-1990s, when computers and many technology-oriented products became commonplace in the consumer and business marketplace.
The “old economy,” meanwhile, refers to the older, blue-chip industries that experienced their period of tremendous growth much earlier in the 20th century, as industrialization spread around the country and the world. The arrival of the new economy has not ended growth for old-economy stocks, but the more mature industries have experienced declining growth rates.
