Over the past decade or so we have been constantly bombarded with news about private and public projects that have either delivered scope at well over the expected budget or had to reduce scope to even come near to the original budget. Current thinking within project management methodologies only discuss the financial aspects of a project at a high level, leaving the “student” without any real way of working to greater understand the impact of their decisions on the financial results of the programme. In turn, the business case development is usually given minimal time and is a rushed job in the end. Investing in the correct people and time up front to review feasibility and secondly the business case is a must to ensure the total on target delivery of a project.
In the financial climate we are in, where budgets and costs are being cut, the time is now to ensure that whatever funding a company has available, that they invest it wisely – to do that you need to ensure that the project in the end – budget, costs and benefits are comprehensively reviewed.
With this in mind – using the Pathfinder Project Management Methodology as a basis, below are the 10 key steps to successful project financial management
(1) On new projects – invest time creating accurate feasibility studies and business cases, if this is a rushed job – in the end the results will deliver overspends.
(2) Review your project portfolio – are you carrying out the correct projects, are they nice to haves, are they being done for internal political gain – ensure each business case is robust and adds value to the future of the firm – spend time using previous experienced individuals to review and re-review the business case.
(3) Concentrate reviews just as hard on the benefits as the cost. In 80% of projects, once they are in, nobody wants to go back and review if they delivered as promised. So ensure from the start of the project you continuously check that as well as costs being on budget, that changes to your project have not altered your benefits.
(4) Cost cutting is not always the answer – allocate resource to “added value” projects – in today’s world cutting heads is a an easy short term fix, do not throw out the baby with the bath water and leave the firm with projects in-flight with no experience to deliver them. Instead review your project spend and as in (2) concentrate on adding value.
(5) Workforce development – up-skill their financial management knowledge, develop staff in leadership, health and safety, motivation etc – so when you put a non-finance manager in charge of a large project, is it not about time they were given the financial know-how. Don’t leave financial management to chance – develop your workforce.
(6) Break down the project into financially manageable sections. Too many projects work on the basis of a “pot of cash” – spend it as per the budget and if luck is with them, great! Instead take the “pot” and break it down into manageable sections – mapped to your project structure, that way you can see where budgets are by “workstream” and what ones are over/underspending.
(7) “one point of contact accounting” – too many managers will lead to budget overspend – following on from (6) above – The overall programme manager is responsible for the budget in total, at the same time each head of the projects parts should then be responsible for managing their part of the budget. This leads to one finance manager dealing with one project manager, ensuring a consistent relationship.
(8) Deliver focused and meaningful financial reporting to enable accurate decision-making. More is less – agree on what reporting is required from the project at the start and continuously improve until it is what the project needs to manage the programme of work. Because an accountant can deliver 20 pages of analysis a month to each project manager it does not mean that it’s correct – save the trees – minimise the reporting and improve the decision making.
(9) Communication – have a strong relationship between your project and finance manager. Finance cannot be back office, they need to be part of the project team and be seen to be so, and therefore open and honest communication channels lead to no surprises.
(10) Finance should be made aware of all potential risks / issues and a probable cost – if a problem has or may arise warn finance early, finance will be limited to what they can do to assist “after the event”.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “read before you sign that little dotted line”? I am sure you have. This phrase almost seems to be true for almost everything these days. Especially for credit cards. You can hardly find a credit card that is worth even getting; until now. We have searched and search to find credit cards that can meet almost anybodies needs. Whether it be good credit, bad credit or no credit, we have them available to you. First, read some of the following important facts about credit cards that will help you decide on the one that will fit your lifestyle.
When looking for a credit card, there is something everybody needs to do; READ! I know it seems like a waste of time and pointless, but trust me; it can save you a lot of money or give you great awards. When you read the terms, there are several types of information that is made available to you. First and most importantly; Annual Percentage Rate or APR. The is how they measure the cost of your credit. Obviously, you want to find the lowest APR you can. That will save you A LOT of money. Next, there are Annual Fees; if there are any. If a card does have an annual fee, they usually start at $25. There is one very good thing about credit cards that everybody seems to like, rewards! Some give you cash back rewards, others give you gas (which with gas prices around the country as they are right now, we all enjoy that), groceries or the best and hottest thing right now and has been for a while are frequent flier miles!
Always make sure that you read the fine lines and you can very easily find the right credit card for you. At http://www.easycreditcardapproval.net, we have searched hundreds of cards and have listed some very good cards that can meet anybodies needs. We have found credit cards for good credit, bad credit and even for those who have no credit at all. Take a look at the website listed above and I am sure you will be able to find the credit that meets your needs. We want to help people get the second chance that they need and here at easy credit card approval, we are taking they first step at helping those that need credit.
Investors today want to know: “Where can I find a legitimate high yield investment with low risk for my money?”
Many people have seen their retirement savings wither in the current global financial calamity. And, as a result, we are seeing an exodus of investors out of the stock markets and into the safest money investments they can find to shelter what’s left of their lifetime savings until the economy stabilizes.
We’re seeing many investors now moving their money into investments such as Certificates of Deposit and U.S. Treasury Securities whose returns likely won’t keep up with the rate of inflation because of their very low yields. But, people are settling for these low returns versus the risk of losing more in the stock markets or elsewhere. They’re scared and many don’t know where else to turn.
The truth is that investors today don’t have to settle for these sub-inflation or break-even investments. They can still find legitimate high yield investment opportunities with very low risk to principal if they just knew where to look.
So, here’s the problem: most people don’t know where to look to find legitimate high yield investment opportunities. They are so ’shell-shocked’ from their portfolio and stock market declines that they’re scared, cynical and skeptical when presented with opportunities that claim to be “high yield investments”. And, they turn a deaf ear to investments that they might have welcomed in better times.
But who can blame them? We’re seeing a resurgance of Ponzi schemes and other scams, identify theft, etc.
Fact #1: You can still find legitimate high yield investment opportunities today with low risk to your principal.
Fact #2: Many of the richest people in the world today, made their fortunes when the economies hit rock bottom. These investors chose to look for opportunities when the masses focused on despair. They recognized how stock markets and economies are cyclical by nature and they looked to the future.
So, let’s see if we can’t look to the future and spot a legitimate high yield investment opportunity staring at us right now:
Two realities that are public knowledge in America today are:
1) There is a limited amount of undeveloped, raw land available in the U.S.
2) The U.S. population is projected to grow +29% between 2000-2030.
In other words: “We’re making more people, but we can’t make any more land.”
What does this information tell us?
i) We will have approximately 82,000,0000 more people living in the United States by the year 2030. (According to the U.S. Census Bureau.)
ii) These new people will need new homes, new schools, new shopping, new businesses and new communities to support them.
So, what legitimate high yield investment opportunites does this present?
Let’s talk about “Raw Land Development”. Ever heard of it? If not, you should seriously consider learning about it right now.
This situation, of limited supply (limited amount of raw land) and growing demand (population growth) is a fundamental economic illustration of what happens when demand for a product is greater than its supply. By definition, the product becomes more valuable. Yes?
Well, the products, in this situation, would be the new homes, new schools, new shopping, new businesses and new communities needed to support the growing demand created by population growth.
This poses a tremendous opportunity for what legitimate high yield investment? How about “Raw Land Development”, the essential ‘building blocks’ of new community construction.
In December of 2004, the highly acclaimed Washington DC think-tank, Brookings Institution commissioned a research study conducted by Virginia Tech University. This study was titled “Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity To Rebuild America.”
According to the study, to accomodate the projected population growth, America’s future raw land development and construction needs require approximately 209 BILLION square feet of new land development between 2000 – 2030.
Estimated cost? $25 TRILLION. And, the bulk of this massive raw land development and construction expansion will be spent in 10 major metropolitan regions, which the Brookings study calls ” Megapolitans”. Plus, the study tells us exactly where these 10 Megapolitans are located.
By the way, this is happening right now!
How can investors profit from this legitimate high yield investment opportunity?
1st) By educating themselves asap about Raw Land Development
2nd) By researching the Brookings Institution study findings.
3rd) By investing in the companies that will be driving this new raw land development growth.
Raw Land Development Investment Benefits:
A) Legitimate High Yield Investment:
A proven investment option is to invest as a ’silent investor partner’ with a professional raw land development company. The key is finding seasoned, reputable companies in this field.
Professional raw land development companies or ‘land developers’ often seek outside investors as silent partners to raise capital for their raw land development projects. Silent partners have no involvement in the day-to-day management activities of the business, but they share in the net profits of the project. In addition to profit sharing, some professional raw land developers also will pay high yield interest to their silent partners for the use of their money until the principal is returned.
B) Legitimate Low Risk Investments:
It is regular practice for professional raw land development companies to back their silent investor partners’ principal investments with project assets (e.g. the value of the land itself). This means that in the event of a developer default (heaven forbid), the project assets can be sold and the silent investors can recoup some or all of their principal plus any net profits.
In addition, for added security, silent investor partners are commonly placed in First Position for the raw land development project’s assets and revenue. This means that in the event of a developer default, if the project’s assets must be sold, the silent partners will be the first in line to be paid. (Similar to when a bank holds the mortgage or first deed on a home.)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
I. Per industry averages, a professionally managed raw land development project will increase the value of raw land by 2-5 times its original cost. In other words, a professional land developer will typically sell a completed raw land development project for 200-500% more than they paid for it originally as undeveloped, raw land.
II. It is widely held that real estate investment has created more riches than any other form of investments. Taking that one step further: Raw Land Development is the most profitable form of real estate.
III. For these reasons, professionally managed raw land development investment has been the cornerstone for many of the world’s wealthiest investors’ investment portfolios for generations.
Until recently, participation in raw land development projects was restricted to the very rich due to the exorbitant minimum investments required (often $1 Million +).
However, this has changed in the past several years, with some professional land developers dramatically reducing their minimum investment rquirements to allow smaller-scale investors to now participate in these legitimate high yield investments.