Two Army deals worth a total of $575 million for Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles “mark the beginning of low-rate production for the highly mobile, survivable, multipurpose vehicle designed to meet the mission of the U.S. Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams,” according to BAE Systems, the company that makes the AMPV. The Marine Corps awarded General Dynamics $37.2 million for 60 hardware kits to reset its Light Armored Vehicles. “The hardware kit addresses key obsolescence and readiness issues and consists of a modern powerpack, driveline system, driver’s instrument panel and a new turret slip ring,” the company said.

Lockheed and Raytheon grew their staff by about 5 percent between 2017 and 2018 according to Callan, the Capital Alpha analyst. Northrop’s headcount rose from 70,000 to 85,000, “but we don’t know how much of that was due to the Orbital ATK acquisition.” Orbital reported 13,900 employees in 2017, meaning the it might have actually grown only about 2 percent to 3 percent, he wrote in a Feb. 17 note to investors.

In this series of articles, we will examine the financial options and programs available to business owners to fund their business.

By Debbie Gregory.

In part 1 of this series, we have looked at the option of using your own money or assets to fund your business. Now we will look at using someone else’s.

If you are willing to take on investors, venture capital might be a good option. This can come from a single person, often referred to as an angel investor, or a venture capital firm. Angel investors are usually affluent individuals who provide capital for a business start-up, and more often than not are looking for convertible debt or ownership equity, as well as an active role in the company.

When you secure venture capital funds, you are not taking out a loan. You are offering a piece of the pie in exchange for funds to be used to drive your business venture down the road to success.

If you want to attract investors, do your homework in advance. Watch a few episodes of Shark Tank to understand how investors evaluate a potential investment. Although this is just a quick introduction, you’ll see how they value a company based on the amount of money requested and percentage of business offered, while inquiring about past performance, future projections, profit margins, the backgrounds of the principals, etc. You will see the importance of coming in with an appropriate valuation. Often times a deal is made based on the quality, passion, commitment, and integrity of the entrepreneurs.

Investors will want to review your business plan to make sure it meets their investing criteria. Most investment funds concentrate on an industry, geographic area, or stage of business development.

After determining the amount of the investment, you will need to settle on the terms and conditions. Venture funds are normally released in predetermined rounds. As the company meets milestones, further rounds of financing are made available, possibly with adjustments in price as the company executes its plan.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,

In this series of articles, we will examine the financial options and programs available to business owners to fund their business.

By Debbie Gregory.

Whether you’re looking for start-up funds, capital to expand, or money to hold in reserve to get you through tough times, how you fund your business is one of the most important decisions you will make.

The term self-funding includes using your own money to invest directly in the company and using your personal assets as collateral for outside funding. If you are in a financial position to fund your business yourself, this option allows you to be independent and retain complete control of your business.

These monies could come from sources such as your savings, equity in your home, credit cards or even your retirement account.

Saving up the money to fund your business ahead of time saves you money since you will not be paying any interest, although it does involve risking your personal savings.

If you have equity in your home, a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC) is another option. Home equity loans provide a one lump-sum payment, while a HELOC works similarly to a credit card, where you only pay interest on the outstanding balance. But keep in mind that you are at risk by using the family home as collateral, something you wouldn’t want to lose.

One of the most expensive ways to self-finance your business is by using credit cards. Many successful business owners have used this method and made it work, but again, this is very risky, and depending on the interest rate, could be very expensive.

For a short burst of cash, you can withdraw money from your IRA interest and tax free, as long as you replace it within 60 days. However, make sure you pay back the money on time. If you’re just one day late in replacing the money for any reason, you’ll have to pay a 10 percent penalty and taxes on any of the money you haven’t paid back.

You may also be able to get funds from family members and friends. But please consider, each one of these methods does have a potential down-side should your business be slow to show a profit.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,

By Debbie Gregory.

Three World War II heroes, Pvt. 1st Class Joseph Reilly, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker, and Sergeant Herman Zeitchik were recognized at the State of the Union address. All three fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Like most from the Greatest Generation, 97-year-old Joseph Reilly was one was of 16 million Americans to serve his nation during World War II.  Born in Janesville, Wisconsin, Reilly enlisted into the Army as a paratrooper. He served with the 101st Airborne while parachuting into France as part of the June 1944 D-Day invasion. He then went on to fight at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge.

Today, Reilly continues to mentor thousands of youth through a significant number of annual speaking engagements, school appointments and business meetings providing his insight into the human element of WWII.  

Locker, from Passaic, New Jersey, said the hard part about D-Day was simply getting ashore. He was in charge of a gun in an anti-aircraft artillery battery, and all members of his unit were weighed down with heavy equipment and ammunition.

Zeitchik was knighted a Chevalier with the French Legion of Honor for aiding in the liberation of Paris. He was among the first U.S. troops to enter Paris. He said they pulled in at night and slept in the streets. The next morning, the Parisians saw them and the celebration began.

Both Locker and Zeitchik were present when the Nazi extermination camps were liberated by U.S. forces.

Seated next to Zeitchik was 90-year-old Joshua Kaufman, a survivor of Dachau who was liberated by Zeitchik and other Americans.

Illustrating the the widespread helplessness at the time; Locker, who knew Yiddish and some German, said he spoke to German civilians in the nearby towns. They stated that they did not know about the camps existence or if they did they had no knowledge of what went on there. He said he would ask in an attempt to better understand the lack of involvement, “How come you never stopped it? How come you never said anything?” Unfortunately their answers reflected the self-preservation that was prevalent for that time and situation, for if they felt that if they spoke up, they would have found themselves in the camps as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, less than 497,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were still alive in 2018. It is wise for us as a Nation to actively engage with those that remain so that we can hear their first hand accounts of what they lived through as they protected our country and the rest of the world.

By embracing and remembering the courage, bravery, and patriotism shown by all of our country’s veterans, hopefully we can learn from these experiences and find a more common ground; as we work towards continual improvements and enduring peace.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,