There was a massive sell off in the capital markets last week. Business reports indicate that investors were getting nervous about recent stock market valuations in light of rising interest rates.
The post Market Remains Volatile in Earning Season: Interest Rates Expected to Continue to Rise appeared first on Team RRP.
Both of the money management tools are great for your budget. Only one is best for overall wealth management. Which would you put your money on?
Personal Capital and Quicken are two of the most popular financial platforms available. Both have extensive budgeting and personal financial management capabilities. And while Quicken offers limited investment features, Personal Capital is virtually built around your investing activities.
Which of the two platforms is the best? It really depends on what you’re looking for. Quicken is certainly the more comprehensive budgeting platform. But Personal Capital also adds that all-important investment component. And given that investing should be the ultimate goal of successful financial management, that’s no small advantage in Personal Capital’s favor.
Below is a chart to compare key features of Personal Capital and Quicken:
| Personal Capital | Quicken | |
|---|---|---|
| Review Rating | 9.5/10 | 9.2/10 |
| Investment Tracking |  |
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| Budgeting | |
|
| Retirement Planner | |
|
| Net Worth Tracker | |
 |
| Bill Tracking | |
|
| Bill Pay | |
|
| Reconcile Transactions | |
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| Track the Market Value of Your Home | |
|
| Free Credit Score | |
|
| Promotions | Free | |
| Synchronization | Link to any U.S. based financial account | Able to sync with more than 14,500 financial institutions |
| Accessibility | Desktop, tablet, iOS and Android mobile devices | Desktop, tablet, iOS and Android mobile devices |
| Customer Service | 24/7 contact by phone or email | Live chat available |
| Pricing | Free | $34.99 - $89.99/year |
Sign Up |
Personal Capital is both financial software and wealth management in one application. They offer both a free and a premium service. The financial software side of the company is free, while wealth management is provided for a fee.
In this article, we’re going to look primarily at Personal Capital’s financial software. It enables you to manage your entire financial life on one platform. It also enables you to develop long-term goals, and strategies to help you get there. This includes creating a budget, managing your investments, and even your retirement accounts (yes, we’re still talking about the free version here!).
The Personal Capital dashboard has a strong emphasis on investments. But they also provide income reports, spending by accounting category, and spending reports and upcoming bills. That’s the budgeting feature.
Some of the services offered by Personal Capital’s financial software include:
Assembling all your financial accounts on the platform – This includes bank accounts, investments and retirement accounts, as well as mortgages, credit cards and other loans.
Investment Checkup tool – The tool analyzes your portfolio, and reveals improvements you can make that will help you reach your goals. They’ll even show you a recommended portfolio to help improve your investment performance.
Fee Analyzer – This tool helps you to find fees in your investment accounts that may not be obvious. Since these can cost you thousands of dollars over many years, identifying them is one of the keys to improving your long-term investment performance.
Retirement Planner – This includes the Retirement Calculator and planning tools. The planner will help you track where you’re at in relation to your retirement goals. This will enable you to make adjustments where necessary. It can even calculate monthly income and projected Social Security distributions, and enable you to add additional income sources, like pensions or rental income. You can even plan for major expenses, like buying a home, sending your children to college, or an upcoming wedding.
Tracking your net worth – Net worth is the most important number in your financial picture. It tells you what you’re worth, after deducting your liabilities from your assets. Personal Capital not only enables you to track this number, but also to compare it to the median U.S. household net worth based on your age bracket. It’s one of the best answers to the “how am I doing” question.
As a budgeting software, Personal Capital does fall short in a couple of categories. First, there is no bill payment capability (though your bank probably offers it). Second, they don’t offer you the ability to reconcile transactions or accounts.
And of course, if you’re looking for direct investment management, Personal Capital is one of the leading platforms available. When you sign up for the service, they’ll give you a comprehensive assessment of your entire financial situation, and build an investment plan that will enable you to reach your goals.
Personal Capital will not only manage your investments, but also help to optimize your tax situation. They do this by avoiding mutual funds, placing income producing assets in retirement accounts, and capital gains generating investments in taxable accounts. That doesn’t make investment related taxable income disappear, but it does minimize it.
Personal Capital offers three different levels of investment management:
Unlike Personal Capital, Quicken is a pure budgeting software platform. Quicken is available for both Windows and Mac, as well as mobile devices. It not only offers budgeting, but also enables you to create plans to reduce debt or increase your investments. You can safely import all your transactions, then categorize them into the proper accounts.
Quicken is available in four different plans: Starter, Deluxe, Premier and Home & Business.
Budgeting – This is where Quicken is particularly strong. They set up realistic household budgets that are based on your spending history. You can then customize goals, enabling you to plan for your future, as well as for paying current bills.
The program forecasts your balances, and even reminds you to pay bills, all while showing you how much money you have in real time.
Budgeting capabilities are available on all four Quicken plans.
Your credit score – Quicken provides your VantageScore from Equifax. This is an educational score, and not your actual FICO score, but it will enable you to track the relative level of your credit score. The major disadvantage–compared to other free credit score providers–is that Quicken only makes this score available on a quarterly basis, not monthly.
Quicken Bill Pay – This feature enables you to pay a bill directly from any checking account included on the platform. However, it’s available only on the Premier and Home & Business plans.
TurboTax connection. You can export your Quicken data directly into TurboTax at tax time.
Quicken doesn’t offer a wealth management service the way Personal Capital does, but they do provide certain investment features.
When you sign up for either the Premier or Home & Business versions, you’ll have the following investment services available:
The Home & Business plan also adds business and property management capabilities, including:
As noted earlier, you can take advantage of Personal Capital’s Financial Software completely free. In fact, 1.6 million people already have!
Personal Capital Wealth Management comes with a tiered pricing structure. For most investors, the fee will be 0.89% of your assets under management (not including 401(k) funds, since they are not directly managed by Personal Capital).
The complete Wealth Management fee structure is as follows:
When you sign up with Quicken, you pay an annual fee, based on the specific product you choose. Pricing for the four products are as follows:
Whichever package you select, Quicken offers a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the product. During that time, you also have the option to switch from one plan to another.
Personal capital provides a FAQ page primarily dedicated to the wealth management side. But they have a more detailed Support Portal that provides greater information on the financial software as well.
When you sign up for the service, they also offer 24/7 contact by phone or email.
A major disadvantage with Quicken is the lack of phone support. But they do offer live chat through the My Pure Cloud app. They also offer a FAQ page as well as Common Help Topics to guide you through the typical beginner issues. Then there’s also Quicken Community, where users come to discuss the ins and outs of the platform.
Personal Capital can link to any financial account you already have online access to. You’ll need to have a username and password for each financial institution in order for Personal Capital to track it.
You can often find your financial institutions already on the platform. But you can also enter the web address to find them. Once a financial institution is added and synced, Personal Capital will also look to automatically add any other accounts you have with that financial institution.
When you link a financial institution, Personal Capital will retrieve up to three month’s worth of transactions from that particular account.
One important note is that you can only link U.S. based financial institutions. Personal Capital does not support foreign-based financial institutions.
Quicken can be synchronized with more than 14,500 financial institutions. In addition, account information automatically populates. But you also have the option to enter information manually.
Much like Personal Capital, you’ll need to provide your username and password for each financial institution you include on the platform. Quicken will then securely download and organize all your financial information. It automatically sorts expenses from your banks, and shows your spending in easy to read charts.
Personal Capital is available for desktop, tablet and mobile devices. You can monitor and track your finances, including your net worth, in real time. The mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices, as well as Apple Watch, and can be downloaded at the App Store or on Google Play.
In addition to the desktop version, Quicken also has its mobile app. It’s available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The mobile app can be downloaded at the App Store and Google Play.
Personal Capital is not currently offering any promotions. But given that the financial software is free it’s the best promotion of all.
Quicken is not currently offering any general promotions.
If your primary interest is in having a comprehensive budgeting software package, Quicken is your best bet. You’ll pay an annual fee for the service, but it will get the job done.
Personal Capital offers more limited budgeting capabilities, but whether you choose the free version or the premium wealth management package, the program offers a very strong investment orientation.
This will be a major advantage for most consumers. After all, the ultimate goal of financial management is to increase personal wealth. The investing aspect is central to that goal, and that’s what Personal Capital does best. Everything about the program points in that direction.
Even the free version provides retirement planning advice, portfolio analysis in the fee analyzer features. This can enable you to continue managing your own investments, but have the benefit of free investment tools from one of the biggest names in the industry.
And while Personal Capital budgeting capabilities may not be as comprehensive as Quicken’s, they’re more than adequate. For example, though Personal Capital doesn’t offer a bill paying feature, this is typically available with banks. You can use your bank’s bill pay capability, while still aggregating all of your accounts on the Personal Capital platform.
And of course, Personal Capital financial software is completely free to use. That gives it a big advantage over Quicken, particularly given the wealth of financial tools Personal Capital provides.
If you’re looking exclusively for a budgeting software platform, Quicken is a solid choice. But if you want a strong investment capability along with that budgeting, Personal Capital is by far the better choice.
Topics: Money ManagementThe post Personal Capital vs. Quicken – Which is Best for Wealth Management? appeared first on The Dough Roller.
The Wesley on Brydon Creek by Whitetail Homes is a new 5 storey condo development located at Brydon Crescent, Langley. This project will offer 78 market condominiums, sizes range from 451 sq ft – 1,020 sq ft. Nestled alongside the lush and serene Brydon Creek, you’ll find the perfect balance of urban living and nature’s tranquility. The Wesley’s sleek and modern exterior, combined with open concept living, will have you enjoying your indoor space as much as the peaceful setting of the outdoors.
The post The Wesley on Brydon Creek appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.
The Wesley on Brydon Creek by Whitetail Homes is a new 5 storey condo development located at Brydon Crescent, Langley. This project will offer 78 market condominiums, sizes range from 451 sq ft – 1,020 sq ft. Nestled alongside the lush and serene Brydon Creek, you’ll find the perfect balance of urban living and nature’s tranquility. The Wesley’s sleek and modern exterior, combined with open concept living, will have you enjoying your indoor space as much as the peaceful setting of the outdoors.
The post The Wesley on Brydon Creek appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.
I meant to say no, that I didn’t want to hold her back, but instead I just collapsed to the rocks.
As I lay there (in the same crumpled body position you see when a cartoon character goes SPLAT on the sidewalk) I listened to the horrible wheezy-rhaspy sound my lunges had been making for the last hour. It was like a panting dog, if the dog had severe asthma and was having a panic attack.
The funny thing was that even as I lay there making involuntary animal sounds, my heart racing and my head woozy, I felt… fine.
I had been physically s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g with this last peak, since it was both the third high peak we climbed that day, and also the highest elevation. Somehow though, I felt curiously unbothered by my own pain and struggle. It was almost like I watched my body fighting this battle from some serene place inside myself, a place where despite the hideous sound I was making and the fact that my legs had collapsed unbidden onto the rocks, I knew there was nothing actually wrong.
Throughout the trip I had many of these moments, noticing my own physical struggle while maintaining a deep inner sense of calm.
At one point earlier on in the day, while hiking to the trailhead for our second peak, I had sat down and uncontrollably wept for a while.
It was as natural as taking a break for water when you’re thirsty. I sat down and the tears simply flowed until they were done. I wasn’t upset exactly, I just needed to cry. We’d been going since before the sun came up, and the terrain was extremely mentally and physically demanding.
When my mom’s husband heard I’d taken a crying-break, he recommended I skip the next peak and just rest. I was surprised, because despite the fact that I still had dirty tear-streaks down my cheeks, I knew nothing was wrong and I would absolutely be able to finish all the peaks. My feeling was that of an unshakeable calm, a steadfast serenity.
While my actual discomfort level was much higher than normal, my anxiety was much lower, and I find that fascinating.
I’ve reflected a lot on this trip and the fierce calm that underpinned the whole experience. What caused this anxiety-free state? Is it always available for me to tap into? Can I purposefully create more of it in my life? Where did this inner calm comes from?
Here’s what I’ve come up with:
I’ve done some terrifying, painful, and challenging shit in my life, so I know that until I’m faced with a new challenge, even I don’t know what I’m capable of. It’s pretty empowering to know I’m carrying around an untapped well of strength and courage inside me all the time, and it certainly comes in handy when I’m trying some new kind of challenge.
Plus, at a basic level… so far, I’ve survived 100% of those moments. I knew I would survive this one too.
My purpose for this trip was always crystal clear, highly motivating, and aligned with my highest values. It never wavered through all the six weeks of training, or four days in the woods: my purpose was to be there for my mom as she finished this enormous accomplishment.
Not just physically there though, but emotionally there too; present; clear; light. (Aka not being irritable, grouchy, whining, or complaining.)
Having a strong sense of purpose— a super strong “why”– is hands down the most important factor when it comes to accessing that state of clear-headed calm.
Had I been struggling that much for no reason, or for a worthless reason like a miscommunication or bad planning, I would have absolutely been throwing dramatic temper tantrums in my head the whole time, like WTF why do people do this shit?!?!
I know this because throwing internal (and sometimes external) temper tantrums is something I’ve done a lot of in my life. Being asked to suffer for a reason that isn’t important to me makes me absolutely, childishly livid.
What’s purposeful or meaningful for one person is completely different than for another though. I don’t like being inconvenienced or uncomfortable to save money for example, because saving money isn’t a value of mine. (You can’t take it with you when you die, y’all.) But I’ll gladly endure all manner of pain and discomfort in service of my work, or spending quality time with loved ones.
Note: This is why I used to think I was lazy and anxious, but it turns out I just didn’t like getting out of bed to do random meaningless shit. Now that my career is linked to my purpose, I’m happy doing everything from IT issues to billing problems to program launches to endless emails. It’s also why a lot of people think they lack “willpower” when it comes to getting in shape, when really what they lack is a strong sense of purposefulness. It seems counter-intuitive, but losing weight and looking good naked just don’t often tap into a person’s core values or sense of meaning.
Which brings me to an interesting insight about the relationship between purposefulness and a general feeling of “resistance.”
In my day-to-day life, I often have resistance to stuff. Resistance is that feeling when something goes wrong or you’re like no it shouldn’t be like that!! Resistance is the cause of a lot of human suffering, because it creates a feeling of internal conflict that is both exhausting and unpleasant.
Think about resistance this way: if someone punched you in the face, you’d probably be pretty upset, right? But if for some reason you really wanted someone to punch you in the face, then despite the fact that it would still hurt, you’d feel happy or satisfied if someone did it.
In short, we only feel resistance when there is a discrepancy between what is happening and what we think should be happening.
This also explains the difference between pain and suffering. Pain is a mandatory part of life. If someone punches you, it’s gonna hurt. But suffering is optional; suffering is the resistance you have to being in pain. You only suffer when you’ve decided that this pain shouldn’t be happening: which is where purposefulness comes in.
* Pain in service of a “why” that makes you feel purposeful is extremely empowering!
* Pain in service of nothing whatsoever is infuriating and humiliating.
I was struggling in those mountains, yes, but I wanted to be struggling. I was empowered by my own struggle because it was in service of a “why” that felt pure and right. I never felt any resistance to it or labeled it “a problem” to solve, because I had signed up to struggle in this way.
Without resisting it, the presence of pain and discomfort only served to make me feel more proud and determined as we went on.
Over the years of doing self-acceptance and embodiment work, I’ve purposefully cultivated a tolerance for my own feelings. (Check out the self-study course I created on feelings to learn more about how!)
It’s amazing how much less anxiety I have now that I can feel my feelings without freaking out.
I had asthma as a kid, and I used to get panic attacks. Doing cardio always used to make me feel like that — like I couldn’t get enough air, like I was going to die. That kind of fear led to panic attacks. I’d feel the initial discomfort, get anxious about the discomfort, panic about my anxiety, panic about my panic, and them BOOM: full blown panic attack.
Being able to tolerate the first stages of physical discomfort— to stay present, and loose, and keep breathing no matter what I’m feeling (aka to not experience resistance to my own feelings)— changes the whole pattern.
Despite all my purposefulness and confidence, fear is a powerful force. If I hadn’t learned to tolerate my fear safely, it might have hijacked the whole show and ruined my trip.
Whew. These were some powerful lessons packed into an intense experience.
Given this experience, the topic of staying constantly connected to meaning/purpose has just become a whole lot more interesting to me!
Can this be the key to feeling inner peace even when life is hard AF? Or maybe these together are the four keys— did I miss anything?
The post {#TransparentTuesday} Purposefulness vs Suffering appeared first on Jessi Kneeland.
Credit cards are convenient for consumers but can be costly for businesses. That’s why it’s important to choose the best credit card processor for your small business. Here are our top 7 picks.
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Whether you’re a freelancer who’s picking up a new side hustle or an established brick-and-mortar small business, you need a solution to accept credit card payments for your business. Checks are too risky, and since everything nowadays is digital, it’s more comfortable and more efficient to receive payments this way.
Years ago, you had to find a payment processing company who would make a super-long application over the phone, send you a massive brick by which you have to use to swipe credit cards and charge you an arm and a leg. Trust me, I did this with my first business, and it was a terrible experience.
Now things are easier. Companies like Square allow you to take credit card payments by using just your smartphone and a small device that plugs into it. In this article, I’ll review the best credit card processors so you can decide which one is right for you.
Shopify is an all-in-one credit card processor but offers much more. It’s primary focus, and where you’ll find the most benefit, is e-commerce. Further, Shopify specializes in e-commerce for businesses that don’t exactly have an online presence. Meaning, you either don’t have a site, or you have a website, but no easy way to sell products. If you are looking to sell products online and want to avoid places like eBay and Etsy, you can get started with Shopify for about $30 per month. Their plans include a domain name, secure hosting, and website templates (which are amazing-looking) so you can get started immediately. If you’ve heard of Wix.com, it’s similar–only Shopify steps up their game by offering a full shopping cart experience for you.
After the monthly fee you pay for getting your business online, Shopify charges you for online transactions–as any other credit card processor would. Their rates are similar to others, charging 2.9% plus $0.30 for all online purchases. If you make small online sales or don’t have a lot of volume yet, it may not be the best pricing, but the additional tools and resources Shopify offers help to make up for it.
Shopify also allows you to accept in-person payments, which is a nice benefit for a brick and mortar business which also sells online. For in-person sales, Shopify charges a flat 2.7%. Just add a retail package to your account, and you can purchase things like a card reader and barcode scanner. Keep in mind, this isn’t Shopify’s primary business focus, so their equipment leaves much to be desired.
If you’re a new online business with a poor website experience or no shopping cart, Shopify is your best bet for getting started. Their online templates are easy to use and come out looking highly-professional. Having a good user experience on your website can lead to more sales, too. But if you’re a physical store that does most of its transactions in-person, opt for a company like Square.
If you’ve gone to a local hair salon or bakery, chances are you’ve seen Square being used. Square was one of the very first credit card processing companies to do away with tiered pricing, which was a big draw for many small business owners. Instead of throwing in up-charges, hidden monthly fees, bundling fees, or equipment fees, Square charges its clients 2.75% on any transaction that uses a card swipe, chip-read, or tap. They then charge 3.50% plus $0.15 for any sale that is keyed in (not by directly using the credit card).
The thing we love about Square is its ability to quickly get you started with accepting credit card payments, at a low cost. If you are just getting started with your business, have infrequent transactions, or sell goods or services that don’t cost a lot of money, Square is an excellent option. Because there is no monthly fee and pricing is flat regardless of what you charge, you’ll be able to focus more on your business and less on nitpicky costs of accepting payments.
To make your business life even more comfortable, Square produces its own mobile and chip reader, as well as the iPad terminal you’ve undoubtedly seen (you know, the one that swivels around to awkwardly ask you if you’d like to add a tip onto your muffin purchase?). I’d consider these necessities, and they’re relatively cheap. Square also offers a bunch of other stuff you’ve probably never heard of–like email marketing services, accounting software, payroll solutions, and much more. So if you’re ready to get into business, Square is an excellent option regardless of your business tenure.
If you’re operating only online, Stripe is one to look at it. They don’t offer in-person transaction support, but Stripe is focused on e-commerce sales, and they do it quite well. Stripe has an API that’s free to use–which allows you to integrate it into a custom-built checkout experience on your website or even integrate it into an app you’ve built. Stripe is definitely more technical, and will probably require some coding skills to get it to work correctly, but its customization is excellent.
Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction but has no monthly or hidden fees. If you accept international credit cards, you’ll get charged an additional 1%. Stripe also allows you to take payment through ACH and digital wallets, which other card processors don’t offer.
Adding a checkout screen to your site is easy, as you merely embed code onto the page and everything is set up for you. Though to make it the best experience possible you’ll want to utilize the API and code it appropriately to what your site, store, or app needs.
Nearly everyone has heard of PayPal by now. The company started in the late 90s and was eventually purchased by eBay–which is where it made a name for itself. Everyone on eBay paid through PayPal it seemed. A few years ago, PayPal actually broke away from eBay and became its own company. Now, PayPal focuses on supporting small businesses with a variety of financial tools and resources to help both e-commerce and in-person sales.
Yes, PayPal still does the bulk of its business online. So if you have an online store, you should strongly consider using one of the oldest and most experienced companies in the industry. PayPal charges online retailers 2.9% plus $0.30 of every online transaction. If you make small sales online, this may not be worth it to you, but if you’re selling at a high-enough volume or can price your products or services accordingly, PayPal’s fees are relatively competitive.
For in-person sales, PayPal charges a flat 2.7% on all transactions. The company offers mobile and chip readers like Square, but they aren’t as sleek or functional. Also, PayPal doesn’t provide the iPad stand or any proprietary software like Square.
If you operate solely online, PayPal is one of, if not, the best option for you. If you do a mix between online and in-person, I’d still consider using PayPal, since they do offer the equipment to accept in-person payments, and the fees are lower than companies like Square. However, if you’re only making in-person sales (i.e., a bakery or restaurant), I would look elsewhere for your payment processing capabilities, just because there are better options.
If you’re just starting out or picking up a side-hustle, Payment Depot won’t be for you. But if you’re running an established business that sells expensive goods or services, or you have a very high volume of sales, you may want to consider this company. Payment Depot focuses on clients who have significant, single transactions or enough sales to make up for the monthly costs, and their subscription tiers mirror that.
There are four subscription levels for Payment Depot, ranging from $29 to $99 per month. The plans vary based on the volume of sales you have. Here’s a look at the transaction limits for each level:
Beyond this flat monthly fee, you’ll be charged a per-transaction fee, which starts at $0.15 per transaction (on the $29 plan) and drops down to $0.05 per transaction (on the $99 plan). So you can see, if you’re a side-hustle hair stylist making a couple hundred dollars a month, this probably isn’t your best bet. But if you own a store that sells high-priced, restored furniture, for example, it might be your best bet. In fact, many hotels and restaurants use this service.
Payment Depot doesn’t have the same type of sleek software and equipment that Square does–as it focuses more on functionality and pricing. You can get equipment from them, but it’s expensive, and it looks a bit dated.
Dharma Merchant Services is a credit card processing company that targets non-profit organizations. One of their primary goals is to help non-profits run their business effectively while keeping their service affordable. For-profit companies can still use the service, but it’s slightly more expensive. Unlike some of the other companies, Dharma doesn’t build interchange into their pricing. Interchange is the base cost of a credit card sale–which is paid regardless.
So before interchange, Dharma charges 0.20% plus $0.10 for an in-person sale and 0.30% plus $0.10 for an online purchase (for non-profits; for-profit companies will pay slightly more). Depending on the type of card the customer uses, you’re looking at anywhere from 1% to 2.5% in fees, per transaction. This is still significantly less than most other credit card processors, though.
While there are some cases where you’ll pay more for using Dharma’s services, it might be important to know that they consistently get good reviews of their customer service, and they donate money to social causes. Last year, for example, Dharma Merchant Services gave over $100,000 to non-profits dealing in areas like animal welfare, education, and social change.
If you’re a non-profit organization, I’d look at Dharma first–but know that they may not be the least expensive when it all shakes out. That really depends on your volume of sales. Dharma tends to discourage companies with less than $10,000 per month in transactions from using their service due to this. Hey, at least they’re honest.
One thing Helcim does that most other card processors don’t is they get transparent with their pricing. Interchange can get complicated because of the rate changes based on the type of card, and the level of rewards the card offers. For instance, a high-reward credit card can have a much higher interchange rate than a no-reward card. Helcim’s goal is to help you find the best plan possible by showing you what you can expect to pay. Their pricing page allows you to select the type of business you have, plug in your estimated sales, and they’ll give you an average price that you’ll pay for every transaction, based on data they have.
In many cases, their pricing works out to be a lot cheaper than most other credit card processors. For instance, I said I was a retail, card-present business with no more than $25,000 in sales each month. I estimated my per-transaction purchase to be about $100, and the average transaction rate I got was 1.82% plus $0.08–which is cheaper than many others. You can then see their full pricing sheet to know exactly how much every transaction costs (if you want to get into the details a bit).
In addition to the per-transaction fee, you’ll pay a monthly fee depending on what kind of business you have. If you’re operating only in-person, you’ll pay a flat $15 per month. If you want to sell online, you’ll pay $35 per month. One nice feature, though, is that Helcim integrates with services like PayPal and Shopify so you can use their platforms (i.e., buttons, shopping carts) but still keep your payment processing service with Helcim.
Overall, this is a somewhat confusing pricing model. But if you take the time to understand it and narrow down exactly what you need, you can end up saving a significant amount of money with Helcim.
As you can see, there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to credit card processors. Many of these companies have similar fee structures, but they’re all unique in the way they operate. This is a good thing, as everyone has different business needs, so you’ll be able to find a company that fits exactly what you need to start accepting credit card payments.
Your turn: which of these companies have you tried, and which has been your favorite from a customer perspective? Share your thoughts below!
Topics: Credit Cards • Tools & ResourcesThe post 7 Best Credit Card Processors for Small Businesses appeared first on The Dough Roller.
