6 Important Tips for First-Time Startup Investors

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If you are a first-timer these are great tips.

An angel investor used to be defined as someone with a high net worth. They typically have more than $1 million and privately invest money in startup businesses that are seeking capital. The SEC restricts investing in private deals to mostly accredited investors. I say mostly because there are some opportunities for non-accredited investors to participate on a limited basis. The definition of an accredited investor in the U.S. is a person who either has a net worth (excluding a primary residence) of $1 million, an income of $200,000 per year for the last two years, or $300,000 in household income per year for the last two years.

Angel investing has gained a lot of popularity despite anxieties over the bubble bursting. You need to understand what you are getting into before making that first investment. The general rule is that you shouldn’t invest more than 10% of your net worth, since startups can be risky. Investments typically range from $25K to $250K, but with startups needing less capital to launch these days, the amounts are shrinking…

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Gas Prices Widening Gap Between Wealthy and Everyone Else

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The rich are back to pre-recession-style splurging.

A wider wedge is being driven between the wealthy and everybody else due to high gas prices.  The rich are back to pre-recession-style splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and they’re paying full price.

 

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Walmart Struggles with Financially Squeezed Customers to Shop Beyond Necessity

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The world’s largest retailer reported the eighth consecutive quarterly decline at its US stores.

Wal-Mart admits it has been struggling to persuade shoppers to buy much beyond the necessities, as rising food and gas bills hit the spending power of US consumers.  

What Effect Will the Cut in Debit Card Fees Have on Consumers?

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The Fed rule on debit card fees could have far-reaching effects on how consumers spend and save.

The debit card battle between retailers and banks has reached epic proportions.   The plan by lawmakers is to slash the fees retailers pay banks every time a shopper uses a debit card.  Both sides are spending millions of dollars to convince lawmakers that they’re looking out for average Americans.

 

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Reinventing Sales Tax

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Sales tax is a a system that is now on the verge of collapse

Futurist Thomas Frey:  As a general rule, extreme levels of complexity take a significant toll on society. The price we pay for complexity is far greater than the money involved. With upwards of 90,000 separate taxing districts in the U.S. sales tax has become an overly complicated system deeply entrenched in the fabric of society, but woefully out of touch with the times.

 

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Predictions for money, currencies and payments

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In the future, paper money may be displaced with digital points of a vendor.

Karl Dakin:  The subject of how we will be paid and make payments in the future was presented at the DaVinci Institute’s Night with a Futurist on Monday night. The presentations covered potentially major changes in the way we conduct business and interact as a society as technological advances in mobile computing enable new ways of exchanging things of value.

 

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Swiss Authorities Freeze Bank Accounts Belonging to Russian Tax Officials

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A group of Russian tax officials is alleged to have helped steal $230m (£140m) from the Russian state in an elaborate tax fraud.

Authorities in Switzerland are reported to have frozen dozens of bank accounts belonging to Russian tax officials.  This is part of a criminal investigation into claims that the funds on them are derived from the biggest tax fraud in Russian history.  The Swiss authorities began investigating after UK investment fund Hermitage filed a complaint against a group of Russian tax officials it alleged had helped steal $230m (£140m) from the Russian state in an elaborate tax fraud.

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