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Rule 1: Don't Ignore Total Interest Costs
You really want to use refinancing as a way to reduce the total interest cost you pay. While that sounds simple in principle, it is sometimes difficult to do. The interest costs you pay are a function of the interest rate, the loan balance, and the loan term period.
When people refinance, they tend to focus solely on the loan interest rate. But they often don't pay as much attention to the loan term or the loan balance.
When you use refinancing—even refinancing at a lower interest rate—to increase your borrowing or to extend the time over which you borrow, you often aren't saving money.
Rule 2: Trade Expensive Money for Cheap Money
For refinancing to make economic sense, however, you do need to swap higher interest rate debt for lower interest rate debt. This calculation, however, is tricky. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, you must look at the annual percentage rate that will be charged on your new loan—this is the best measure of the new loan's interest rate cost—and then compare this to the loan interest rate on your old loan.
You don't want to compare interest rates on the two loans nor do you want to compare annual percentage rates on the two loans. Again, just to make this perfectly clear: You want to compare the loan interest rate on the old loan to the annual percentage rate on the new loan.
When the annual percentage rate on the new loan is lower than the loan interest rate on the old loan, then you are truly paying a lower interest rate.
Comparing annual percentage rates with loan interest rates seems confusing at first. But note that you would pay only interest on your old or current loan, so that's all you need to look at in terms of its costs. With a new loan, however, you would pay both interest and any origination or closing cost fees. The annual percentage rate wraps the interest rate charges and setup charges, origination charges, and closing cost fees into one interest rate-like number.
Rule 3: Don't Lengthen the Repayment Period
Be careful that you don't extend the length of time you borrow by continually refinancing. For example, one common rule of thumb states that every time interest rates drop by two percentage points, you should refinance your mortgage. However, there have been times in recent history when following this rule would have had you refinancing your mortgage every few years. This could mean that you would never get your mortgage paid off. If you refinanced every few years, you would suddenly find yourself still 30 years away from having your mortgage paid.
But there are things that a company should remember when they are choosing printed corporate gifts, whether the gift is for a client or an employee. Here are some guidelines that should be kept in mind.
1. Before you give out items to a client or a potential client, check and make sure that the company they work for is doesn't have a policy against the receiving of promotional corporate gifts.
2. You should never use a promotional corporate gift as a replacement for an expected raise for an employee, or for services that weren't up to par when it comes to a client.
3. It' s not a good idea to use promotional corporate gifts as a gift for a personal reason, because this may offend a client or an employee.
4. Always stick within your company's budget when it comes to giving out promotional corporate gifts. Just as you shouldn't give out gifts that your company is unable to afford, you shouldn't buy gifts that are inexpensive to save money.
5. Keep in mind that the gift that you choose should make the person who gets it feel good about the accomplishments that they have done.
6. If the gift that you are giving is for a holiday, make sure that you check the person's cultural or religious background. This will help you to avoid insulting a client and having uncomfortable situations.
7. When you choose to give a promotional corporate gift in person, you should check and make sure when the person will be available so that you are giving it to them at a time that is convenient for them.
Corporate gift giving is one of the best ways that you can show someone that they are appreciated. They are an item that is great for both clients and for employees. When you keep the rules of thumb that are listed above in mind when you are choosing the gift, you will find that people want to continue working for you and doing business with you. They help to show that you put thought into the printed corporate gifts that you have chosen and the person who is receiving them.
Promotional corporate gifts are an easy thing to give to people, when you think about their feelings. Think about the gifts that you have gotten personally from a corporation, whether it was as a client or as an employee, and how they made you feel. When you use this as a basis for doing your own giving of promotional corporate gifts, you will know that you made the right decision.
The important thing about promotional corporate gifts is the thought that goes into them. Is the gift something that shows someone how you really value them, or is it something that is going to make them feel worse? Know the answer to these questions before you choose the gifts for your clients and employees.