Archive for the ‘Financial Reviews’ Category

Twilio raises second microfund from angels McClure, Conway

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jan 19 2012

This week at the Twilio Conference in San Francisco, 500 Startups founder Dave McClure announced the launch of a second Twilio MicroFund of $250,000 to invest in companies that are based on Twilio’s Connect platform.

McClure and Ron Conway of SV Angel will each invest $125,000 in the fund. McClure will manage the investments, with Twilio serving as an advisor.

Twilio, a 500 Startup’s portfolio company, provides cloud-based telephony services. The San Francisco-based company, which is hosting a two-day conference, has raised more than $15 million in venture funding from 500 Startups, Bessemer Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Lowercase Capital and numerous angel investors.

The first Twilio MicroFund of $250,000 was supported entirely by McClure and launched in late 2010. It has funded 10 companies to date: Callyo, FastCall411, KnockKnock, Magnolia Prime, Order Mapper, Proven, Qwipd, Textaurant, Voicendo and Volta.

Twilio co-founder and CEO Jeff Lawson told me that the idea for the fund came from a , which he posted not long after backing Twilio initially in 2009. In the tweet, McClure said he had invested in his fourth startup based on the company’s platform.

“Dave was already investing in Twilio companies, so we decided to formalize the process,” Lawson said.

Apparently, there is no shortage of startups working off of Twilio’s API. At the conf

Read more…

Tags: Mcclure, Mcclure Conway
No Comments »

Important forecasts for the stock market in 2012 …

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jan 06 2012

Last week I told you why I continue to insist that most investments I recommend pay for themselves through steady income generation, and why capital appreciation is merely a natural byproduct of that philosophy.

However, I didn’t get specific on particular investment areas to consider in the new year. So today, I want to take a deeper look at the stock market by telling you what areas were the best performers last year as well as what sectors may hold the most promise as 2012 gets underway.

So let’s start with …

A Look Back at the Stock Market in 2011

For the full year, the S&P 500 ended just a bit lower — .0028 percent, technically — than it began 2011.

BUT, and this is an important one, the index managed to eke out a 2.11 percent total return for the year once you factor in dividends.

So right there is an important lesson: Dividends can literally mean the difference between a losing year and a winning one!

Of course, I really pay a lot of attention to how the S&P 500′s ten individual sectors perform because it tells us a lot about general market sentiment along with where future opportunities might lie.

Her

Read more…

No Comments »

Dec 16, SP 500 Index ETFs – Charts, Investing Ideas and Trading Strategies

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jan 02 2012

SP 500 Index as underlying is among heaviest trading instruments on NYSE. Find S&P 500 Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) trading related information here. Would You Like to Trade this Security?

Online Stock Brokers – Reviews, Ratings, Comparison, and More

Selecting appropriate stock broker is one of key steps to success of every trader or investor!

* Assets (Net) are express in thousands of U.S. Dollars. Last update: 12/16/2011

Tags: 500 Index, Sp 500, Sp 500 Index, Trading
No Comments »

Lesbians Denied Adoption Tax Credit

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Dec 12 2011

Since the federal government does not recognize same sex marriages, gays and lesbians are not allowed certain rights when it comes to taxes that straight couples are. For example, gays and lesbians cannot file joint income tax returns. But along with disadvantages should come advantages also. For instance, lesbians who adopt a child wishing to claim the adoption credit should technically be allowed to do so whereas straight couples cannot because the law states that you cannot claim tax credits when you adopt your spouse’s child. Since lesbians are not considered married, then the adoption tax credit is allowable to a lesbian who adopts her partner’s child.

The adoption credit directly offsets the taxes you are liable to and is a refundable credit, meaning if the credit is more than your tax liability, you get to claim the difference as a refund. For 2011, the adoption tax credit can go as high as $13,360 and is claimable only once between a couple. This makes the credit very attractive and in turn also more likely to be abused. This has caused the IRS to be extra careful in scrutinizing the claims for the adoption credit.

68% of the 100,000 or so adoption credit claims were audited by mail according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. These claims came from both gay and straight couples. Gen

Read more…

Tags: Tax, Tax Credit
No Comments »

Bringing order to the unruly world of early stage entrepreneurship

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Dec 07 2011

Eric Ries, author of the “The Lean Startup”, offers a worthy attempt to bring the scientific method to the often intuitive exploration of young companies.

What leads most startups astray is the lack of a disciplined, empirical procedure for making decisions, says Ries, who also writes on the blog Startup Lessons Learned and is a 2010-11 entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School.

Ries is by equal measure upbeat and cautionary. He sees a worldwide renaissance of entrepreneurialism, but worries about wasted, misguided efforts.

Venture investors take heart. He has an answer, which he details in the October 2011 issue of Venture Capital Journal.

“The nice thing about relying on human judgment and using the scientific method is (we develop) a system for training judgment to get better over time,” he told VCJ Senior Editor Mark Boslet. “We will eventually start to develop better entrepreneurial instincts.”

VCJ subscribers can read the full story here, which we’re posting ahead of the October publishing date.

Following is an excerpt of the Q&A:

Q: Are we more entrepreneurial than in the past?

A: My belief is there are more startups operating today than at any time in history. There’s this worldwide entrepreneurial renaissance. But I think it’s not going to come to a good end unless we get serious about systematically improving our entrepreneurial practice. I think there is

Read more…

No Comments »

Small Business Saturday 2011

Financial Reviews | Posted by Kiara Withers
Nov 26 2011

As you’re likely aware, this coming Friday is none other than “Black Friday.” And what happens the day after that? Small Business Saturday, of course.

Small Business Saturday is a promo that was launched last year by American Express. The goal of this promotion is to get people to shop at small, locally-owned businesses – and to use their American Express cards when doing so. As before, Amex is offering a $25 bounty for participating.

Simply register your eligible card(s) and and then make a $25 minimum purchase (with your card, of course) at a qualifying small business on this coming Saturday, November 26th. In return, you’ll get a $25 statement credit.

Eligible merchants include:

…any independently owned small businesses that accept the American Express Card. Purchases made online, at large, national chains, at franchised business locations and at government agencies are not eligible. Prepaid, corporate cards and ExpressPay transactions are not eligible.

There’s a limit of one statement credit per card no matter how many purchases you make. That being said, I was able to get credits on two different cards last year, so if you have more than one Amex card, you might consider registering and using each of them.

The credit should show up within five (5) business days, but it could take up to two statement cycles in some cases. Last year, my

Read more…

Tags: Business Saturday, Saturday, Small Business, Small Business Saturday
No Comments »