Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding

Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.

Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.

Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.

Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )

How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:

Debt / Loans

Asset Based Financing

Alternative Hybrid type solutions

Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas

If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).

Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.

The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.

Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.

We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.

Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.

If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.

S&P 500 Rallies As U.S. Dollar Pulls Back Towards Weekly Lows

Key Insights
The strong pullback in the U.S. dollar provided significant support to stocks.
Treasury yields have pulled back after touching new highs, which served as an additional positive catalyst for S&P 500.
A move above 3730 will push S&P 500 towards the resistance level at 3760.
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Pfizer Rallies After Announcing A Huge Price Hike For Its COVID-19 Vaccines
S&P 500 is currently trying to settle above 3730 as traders’ appetite for risk is growing. The U.S. dollar has recently gained strong downside momentum as the BoJ intervened to stop the rally in USD/JPY. Weaker U.S. dollar is bullish for stocks as it increases profits of multinational companies and makes U.S. equities cheaper for foreign investors.

The leading oil services company Schlumberger is up by 9% after beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Schlumberger’s peers Baker Hughes and Halliburton have also enjoyed strong support today.

Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna gained strong upside momentum after Pfizer announced that it will raise the price of its coronavirus vaccine to $110 – $130 per shot.

Biggest losers today include Verizon and Twitter. Verizon is down by 5% despite beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Subscriber numbers missed estimates, and traders pushed the stock to multi-year lows.

Twitter stock moved towards the $50 level as the U.S. may conduct a security review of Musk’s purchase of the company.

From a big picture point of view, today’s rebound is broad, and most market segments are moving higher. Treasury yields have started to move lower after testing new highs, providing additional support to S&P 500. It looks that some traders are ready to bet that Fed will be less hawkish than previously expected.

S&P 500 Tests Resistance At 3730

S&P 500 has recently managed to get above the 20 EMA and is trying to settle above the resistance at 3730. RSI is in the moderate territory, and there is plenty of room to gain additional upside momentum in case the right catalysts emerge.

If S&P 500 manages to settle above 3730, it will head towards the next resistance level at 3760. A successful test of this level will push S&P 500 towards the next resistance at October highs at 3805. The 50 EMA is located in the nearby, so S&P 500 will likely face strong resistance above the 3800 level.

On the support side, the previous resistance at 3700 will likely serve as the first support level for S&P 500. In case S&P 500 declines below this level, it will move towards the next support level at 3675. A move below 3675 will push S&P 500 towards the support at 3640.

Pet Vets and Groomers Go Mobile: What It Means for You

In the digital era, there are some pet services whose online optimization is obvious. The ease of ordering food online has opened up every home to top-quality brands and ingredients not available in their neighborhood, for example, and mobile booking for dog walkers is as intuitive as using an online service to find a babysitter.

Recommended site: Mobile Pet Grooming Phoenix

Like the home-visiting doctors of old, mobile veterinarians offer comfort for your pet without the distress of an office visit. There’s no need for a waiting room crowded with other animals, unfamiliar bright lights and tile floors, or the whole new array of smells the vet’s office has to offer.

The New York Times refers to these home visits as “fear-free” veterinary care. It’s a name taken after the company, Fear Free, who first began certifying veterinarians, technicians, and staff for these low-stress, at-home visits. The approach takes advantage of your animal’s tie to their natural environment and allows them the respect of undergoing stressful veterinary care without the additional demands of a road trip.

Recommended article: Fear-Free Pets Make for Happier Pets, and Owners

Respecting our pets and their comfort allows them to be at their best. Often, an animal will be reported to have behavioral problems, when the real problem is rooted in their own boundaries being crossed. At-home visits prevent high anxiety, rapid adjustments to new environments, and, some would argue, trauma.

And allowing your animal to be at their best isn’t just beneficial to them. A calm, at-home pet is an easier client for vets and groomers to work with and reduces your chances of being responsible for an injury or bite. Lowered anxiety levels may even have long-term impacts on your pet’s health. Much like with humans, an animal’s anxiety levels can worsen their health over the broad course of their lifespan. Findings reported by Dr. Gary Landsberg suggest lowered anxiety can help curb preventable gastrointestinal problems, respiratory problems, immune system problems, inhibited wound healing, and even rapid aging.

Mobile pet services are rapidly expanding. According to a report by Spot Pet Insurance, those services now include:

Wellness exams
Vaccinations
Spay & Neuter Services
Skin & Ear Problems
Allergies
Fecal & Heartworm Tests
Blood Profiles
Minor Injuries
Health Certificates
Diagnostic Testing
Much like with veterinary care, we ask a lot of our pets on visits to the groomers. Good behavior is competing with new environments, new smells, other animals passed on the way in and out, and the stress of a car trip there. In fact, many of the stressors that arise from a visit to the groomer’s are identical to those surrounding a vet visit.

Suggested site: Mobile Pet Grooming Tucson

Some stressors can’t be removed. In the case of both medical care and grooming, your pet will need to tolerate a minimally invasive, but still invasive, treatment of their body. A good vet and a good groomer alike have respect for your animal and their boundaries, while still doing what they need to do to provide the best standard of care.

But we, the owners, have the power to keep our pet’s stress to a minimum.

A quick online search will turn up thousands of articles for helping young children through transition time, doctor’s visits, and first haircuts. Discussions dive deep into issues of consent, respect, and understanding the sheer number of sensory demands on the child at any given time. It’s time we gave our pets the same respect, and mobile visits—limiting that stress too, at least, the comfort of their own home—are a massive stride forward.