Is using a loan good for your business?

Answer 1

Unfortunately there is no direct answer to this question. Sometimes using borrowed money is the best thing you can do for your business. Sometimes it is the worst thing you can do. What determines the answer is whether your business generates more profit and cash flow if you borrow money. If your answer is yes then borrowing money is probably a good thing. If the answer is no, it probably is not a good idea to borrow money for your business. How does it work? The purpose of borrowing money should be to do more business, to increase revenues and to grow profits and cash flow. But keep in mind that borrowing money increases your costs. So the extra profits and cash flow that you generate with borrowed money should exceed the cost of borrowing the money. If that is the case you get ahead by borrowing. If that is not the case, stay away from the bank. How do you determine whether borrowing money is likely to increase your profits and cash flow? There is only one good way and that is to create a financial model of your business. With the financial model you can simulate the effects of borrowing money. If you do not know how to create a financial model ask your accountant or contact a financial expert. You can also use a short cut to determine whether borrowing money is a good idea or not. But this has limited value and does not give you a precise answer. Here is how it goes. First, estimate how much revenues are going to increase if you borrow money. Second, subtract the variable cost of the increased production. Third, subtract the cost of the borrowed money. If the remainder is positive you are likely to increase your profits by borrowing money. Now you still need to check if the additional cash flow you create with the borrowed money is sufficient to pay back the loan on time. There is one other thing that you have to be aware of before you commit yourself by borrowing money. Risk. By borrowing money you increase your costs. You take on an additional obligation. If things go the way you hope you will make more money. But if they do not go your way you will lose money at a faster rate than if you had not borrowed money. In effect you have turbo charged your company to make more money. As a warning I would like to use an analogy. When you try to get somewhere by running as fast as possible you better know that you are running in the direction you want to go. If you run in the wrong direction you go fast and you will get in the wrong place fast. Have fun with it!