Non compliance of tax laws can be said to be a failure, intentional or unintentional, of taxpayers to meet their tax obligations. This lack of compliance can be as a result of different factors as indicated below: A Rising or High Tax Burden: Individuals and organizations will tend to be non compliant to tax laws when the taxes are deemed to be high as compared with the cost of living. In such a case taxpayers will tend to avoid payment of taxes so as to have a sizeable amount of money to be used in the purchase of different commodities. Lack of Knowledge on Tax Laws: This point focuses on the unintentional failure of a taxpayer to comply to tax laws. An example would be a small or medium enterprise that does not know that it is required by law for their businesses to be registered and as such pay Continue reading
Personal Finance Concepts
An Overview of Credit Card
Credit is a method of selling goods or services without the buyer having cash in hand. A credit card is only an automatic way of offering credit to a consumer. A credit card is basically a plastic card with a magnetic strip invented with the intention to simplify the complicated banking process for an individual in case he/she is short of cash, be it something casual like shopping or something severe like an emergency situation. The dictionary defines a credit card as ‘A card which can be used to obtain cash, goods or services up to a stipulated credit limit. The supplier is later paid by the credit card company which in due course is reimbursed by the credit card holder who will be charged interest at the end of the credit period if money is still owing.’ The word credit comes from Latin, meaning “trust. This means that using Continue reading
Market Timing for Investors
persoMarket Timing is a top down view of the stock market and its prospects. Market Timing is an approach that attempts to determine when to be in the market, when to be out of the market and when to short (bet on a price decline by borrowing stock and selling with the hope to buy it back at a cheaper price and repay at cheaper prices). Market timing includes the following four components. Trends of interest rates: The future behavior of interest rates, i.e., the tightening or easing bias of the Central Bank. Interest rates are critical to market values for three reasons. Stocks are basically the present value of future earnings. An investor invests his money in an expectation of certain rate of return. The higher the general level of risk-free rates, the greater the expected rate of return and the lower the present value of future returns. Additionally, Continue reading
Confirmation Bias – Understanding Behavioral Biases in Finance
Confirmation bias is the inclination to seek or make sense of news or facts in a way that validates one’s preconceptions. So, during the decision making process for psychologist they will refer to information that supports their decision more favorably. They will rarely give the obvious negative much consideration and since our beliefs and postulations are definitely prejudiced so the tendency to give more attention and weight to data that support our beliefs than we do to contrary data will subtly but gradually have a harmful effect. An illustration of Confirmation Bias A very real manifestation of this tendency can be observed in the virtual world. For instance, investors are increasingly turning to message boards or virtual communities to search, clarify, and exchange information before making investment decisions. The volume of discussion on such portals is so intense that it has become possible to sense stock sentiments from here. These Continue reading
Commercial Credit Analysis: Sources of Repayment
The main concern that a banker has when facilities are extended is on the repayment of the monies advanced. This is the question that he will invariably zero in on and it would be prudent for the prospective borrower to advise him upfront on how he intends to repay the facility. In ideal circumstances there should be more than one source of repayment so that should there be, for some reason, a delay or a problem, the repayment commitment can still be honored. Bankers too, if presented with a well structured plan/ plans of repayment would be more willing to listen and even advance facilities. Primary Source: The primary source of repayment should be directly related to the kind of loan given i.e. for facilities extended (overdraft) for working capital or to finance trade the repayment should be from the proceeds of the goods sold. If a bridge loan prior Continue reading
Advantages and Disadvantages of Credit Cards to Students
In this modern era with the rising of e-commerce in the world, the usage of credit cards is getting popular among the world nowadays. The usage of credit cards has actually spread towards college students and has increased visibility. Meanwhile, this is the best chance for the credit card companies to put on target at college students because college students are expected to have higher earning power and this makes the credit card companies believe that as a desirable market. A credit card can be best defined as a small plastic card issued by the bank to the consumers to purchase goods and services in advance with a credit limit on the spending. With a credit card, the users are able to purchase goods without using cash. Users will have the ability to use it as online payment on the internet and use it as monthly installments for large-volume goods Continue reading