UNDERWATER MORTGAGES, ARE THEY REALLY A HARDSHIP?
Some things confuse me. Mainly the political spins i hear all the time on the news. By both sides! One is the mortgage situation and the underwater mortgages for sure. I don’t understand why it is more of a hardship to make payments on an underwater mortgage than one that is not underwater. The [...]
HOW TO MAKE A DECISION
Okay, there are other ways to make decisions too, but I like the decision matrix. I learned this technique 35 years ago and have used it frequently over the year for many decisions. I like it because it gives me a quantitative bases to clarify my thinking. I have here an example of how i [...]
MAYBE THERE IS A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE ECONOMY AFTER ALL
I think it is good to look for the best in people and situations. We all know the economy is really bad and many are jobless and in other dire straits. So what could be good about it? May sound goofy, but I think we are weeding our some crooks! Folks like Petters, Hecker, Maddoff, [...]
I HAVE A DREAM! YES, LOTS OF THEM!!
Yes, I dream a lot, hence the name for my blog: “I’ve been thinking” My articles are not based on lots of research, just my experiences in life and work. My hope is that someone will find it some day and find an idea that helps them n their career and life in general. One [...]
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY
From my 40 years in business finance I always marvel at how some seem to figure out how to do things on other people’s money. And how they find ways to avoid risking their own. I never worked with the mega deals and don’t claim to know much about them other than it takes a [...]
DO WE WANT OUR GOVERNMENT IN THE VENTURE CAPITAL BUSINESS? CAN WE AFFORD IT?
ARE VENTURE CAPITALISTS GREEDY? That is what they say, some even call them vulture capitalists! Well, I’m sure some are and some aren’t like in any business. But in he case of VC’s is there good reason to be “greedy”? I was in the venture capital business for four years and learned a lot about [...]
IS GOVERNMENT HELPING OR HINDERING BANK LENDING?
I don’t have a scientific survey to back this up. I wish someone would, it could tell us a lot. I do talk with lenders who are well connected to the loan markets. The biggest issue I hear about is the fear the banks have of the regulators, FCID, Fed examiners, State and who knows [...]
JOB TRANSITION SUPPORT GROUPS
I am privileged to speak at two job transition support groups next week. I will be at Easter Lutheran at 7:30 AM on Tuesday, June 21. More information can be found here: http://easter.org/wordpress/job-transitions-group/ I will be at Woodbury Lutheran Church at 7:00 PM on June 23. Information at: http://www.woodburylutheran.org/ministries/support/careertransition/ I will be speaking about my [...]
Banks, government and small businesses
I’ve been thinking about the similarities of banks and government, especially on how they work with small businesses. I have spent 30 years working with them and see quite a few similarities. One of lenders prime functions is to provide the funds to keep businesses going and to succeed. They set loan covenants that are [...]
Bankers say they don’t like surprises; do you?
Bankers don’t like surprises; even if it’s their fault! I have a client situation that could be oft repeated in the next several years. I have a client who was financed by a bank for several years and everything seemed to be working fine until his banker was promoted and he got a new one. [...]
