Sometimes you just need to re-program things to make them work better – that’s what we’re also suggesting when you review your lease finance and equipment loan financing strategies for your company.
Let’s examine how you can maximize your leasing strategy to attain maximum benefits and minimum hassle! That’s clearly a win win strategy.
Focus clearly on eliminating what we can only call the ‘hassles’ of dealing with other types of financing, It’s all about ‘ time’ and your ‘ business bandwidth ‘ today when you are visiting a new asset acquisition. Without a doubt we can state that leasing equipment is by far the quickest method of obtaining an approval, satisfying both your vendors need as well as your own time constraints.
With only a very basic financial calculator you can quickly review all your lease finance options – the favorite question of almost all clients is: ‘What will my monthly payment be?’ It’s about time for you to answer that question yourself, and make sure that your cash flow and working capital remain intact on the equipment loan financing you are contemplating. How? Just remember that the only elements to any lease are: term, rate, amount financed, payment, and end of term option. If you know any 4 of those you can always solve for the final item, which in our case is payment. You should assume an interest rate that is consistent with your firms overall credit quality.
Business owners and financial managers should view their lease finance acquisitions in the context of your overall financial strategy. You might need to ‘re-program’ your thinking on buying and paying for assets outright. Doesn’t it make more sense to keep your cash and line of credit reserves intact, and match the useful economic life of the asset you are acquiring to a predicable cash outlay?
A quick way to ‘re-program’ your leasing needs is simply to always use the same business template for each asset you are acquiring. They key aspects of that decision template, if we can call it that are: cash flow budgeting re the monthly lease payment, reviewing the asset in the context of not having to draw on your business operating line of credit, determining how long you will use the equipment for (thereby matching term and payment) and finally, factoring in balance sheet and tax advantages into your asset acquisition decision.
What’s the biggest ‘re-programming’ issue with most firms. It’s simply their mild obsession with rate. Yes a rate has to be competitive, but view the lease financing rate in the context of the current interest rate environment, the challenge of getting traditional bank financing, and the fact that in the current 2011 environment rates are probably going up and not down. The real reality is that you determine your own rates in your new leasing re-programming strategy! That’s because the largest factor in determining rates for equipment financing is the manner in which you properly present your overall credit quality and financial health.
In summary, equipment loan financing, aka ‘leasing’ has been around for over a hundred years in North America. Take a hard look at why you finance your assets, reprogram your strategies around benefits and ‘how to,’ and acquire your assets with the knowledge you have made the best financial decision for your firm. Need help? Given a choice we’ll take an expert over a rookie any day! Speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who will work on your ‘ re-programming strategy with you!
