How to Become a Finance Broker

In the simplest of terms, a finance broker is a person who helps you get a loan for your business. They bring together their clients and buyers and set a deal between them. When the deal is done, they take a fixed amount of money that their client makes.

Many of these brokers work with a firm while others work independently. They attend meetings and conferences to meet clients or buyers.

There are a few qualifications that you need to be an expert in this field. After completing school, you can get some certificates or opt for a financial degree. Once you have a degree and certifications, you can start with training or apprenticeship. Here, you are required to work with an employer to gain particle working skills.

Depending on your interests, career choices, and grasp of the finance world, you can start the training period when you are in school. But if you wish to go through the traditional course, you can always do that.

In this article, we have given an insight into what a financial broker does and why business people hire them.

What Is a Finance Broker?

In general terms, a broker is somebody who establishes a connection between a person/business and its consumers.

“A finance broker is a person or a firm dealing with the financial assets of a business. They operate the financial assets of a business or an entrepreneur and execute their monetary transactions.”

– Libertex.org

These brokers advise and update a business about the market conditions, how to invest in other businesses, and most importantly, what assets should be bought or sold by the business.

Some decades ago, before the invention of the internet, a financial broker advised people on what they should buy and sell. They would also ask for a small fee in return for the advice. Fast-forward to the 21st century and the world of the internet, a finance broker carries out multiple operations. Their workload has increased and so has their income.

To become a financial broker, you need to have a keen interest in financial markets, knowledge of how businesses work, and knowledge of mortgages and finances. These brokers usually take part in training and apprenticeship to be able to become finance brokers.

As a business person, you must understand a few things to know that you are dealing with a legitimate firm or a person. You should look and talk to multiple brokers as this will give you a general idea of what they will offer you. You should confirm that they are indeed licensed, finance brokers. As the CEO of a business, you should think it through before signing any documents.

What Is a Business Finance Broker?

A business finance broker is a person who deals with the purchase and sales of a small or big business enterprise. These brokers also help businesses with their funding. They are not essentially lenders. Therefore, they do not use their own money for the business’s funding requirements. What they specialize is in finding the best lenders to meet the financial demands on behalf of a business person.

Apart from this, business brokers also help in consigning the ownership of companies and businesses. This is a very complex process that CEOs cannot handle on their own. Therefore, they ask for the help of a business broker.
The broker can help business owners with the challenges they may face during this process. Brokers find out the fair valuation that the business holds in the market, they keep a check of all the accounting records and other financial records of the business, and they use strategies to negotiate a fair price for the deal.

CEOs can put their whole trust in business finance brokers for this process because a broker would keep all the business details confidential. They would set up meetings with potential buyers. Brokers get them to agree to keep the business sale restricted to themselves.

A business owner would not be able to filter out reliable buyers, so the broker assists them in rejecting incapable buyers.

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Why Should I Use a Commercial Finance Broker?

A Commercial Finance Broker is your best agent to handle your business’s financial needs. There are many benefits to appointing a commercial finance broker. We have highlighted some reasons why you should hire one:

• To Get Funding: A commercial finance broker will get you funding. More importantly, they will get you funding when traditional sources such as banks, have failed to help you out. A broker will give your business a way to have more financial growth.
• To Fulfill Your Needs: A broker will help you with your business needs in terms of finance. Moreover, they will help you with your personal needs and help you decide where you want to go from here, what skills you require, what experiences you can include in your CV, and discuss business plans.
• To Get Expert Advice: Brokers offer you advice from their experiences. From years of working and observing market conditions, they know how to help you out in the best possible way. You know the business world, and they know the finance world. So, to make a successful plan for funding, a finance broker will inform you about the interest rates, and they will present you with multiple options available in the market.
• To Save Time and Money: CEOs are always expanding their business ventures. Therefore, for their financial needs, they often rely on brokers. Doing this helps them save time and money, which they otherwise would have to spend themselves.
• To Have Someone On Your Side: A broker is someone who works with you one-on-one. They are not there to sell their services to you. Instead, they are there to work together with you. They will give you the best advice, and you can trust them enough to know that you will not be scammed.

What is Asset Finance?

Asset finance is the process by which business enterprises acquire assets for their business. These assets could include machinery, equipment, and vehicles. Acquiring assets means that businesses do not have to pay for them upfront.

You can obtain assets from others or you can use your own assets as security. When you keep your assets as security, it is usually a finance broker that helps you out with this procedure.

Many business owners take part in asset financing to grow their businesses. Since they don’t have enough funds with them to grow their business, they opt for asset financing.

Here are the pros and cons of asset financing:

Pros of Asset Financing

• No Asset Depreciation Costs: Assets can start to depreciate after some time. Since the business doesn’t own these assets directly, they do have to pay for its repair costs.
• Low Pay: Since the finance broker handles the repair and management costs, the business owners do not have to pay a lot to acquire an asset.
• No Additional Security: An asset is enough security to get a loan. There might be a few deposits that businesses have to make, but nothing more than that.
• Increased Flow of Cash: Through the acquired asset, the business can expect to see more capital growth.

Cons of Asset Financing

• The Asset Is Not Yours: If your business is in need of more funding, and you wish to sell the asset, you cannot do it. The reason for that is the asset is not yours.
• They are Long-Term: When you acquire an asset, you do it for a period of a year. So, the people who require financial help for 3 or 6 months will have to look for another way.

How Asset Finance Works?

Asset financing differs on how and what assets a business is acquiring. There are multiple ways you can use an asset for your business. These include:

• Hire Purchase: Through this method, the business can have complete ownership of the asset. The cost of the asset is paid by the business owner till the contract ends. So, they keep paying for it at the set time period. Once the term comes to end, the asset becomes their property.
• Leasing Equipment: In this method, the business owner basically pays rent to the finance broker for the asset. The business owner has to carry out the payment monthly. Once the term ends, the business person has the option to upgrade the asset to a newer model, to pay more and have complete ownership of the asset, or to return the asset back to the broker.
• Finance Lease: This method is mostly the same as the previous method of leasing equipment. The payment of assets is done in the same way as it is done in the method of hiring a purchase. The major difference is that in the previous two methods, the business can end up owning the asset at the end of the term; but, that cannot happen here. There is no option that is presented to the business where they may become the owner of the asset through a finance lease.

What is Commercial Finance?

Commercial finance helps people grow their business goals and plans. Commercial finance is both short-term and long-term. When a business is stuck, and they do not see the way it can reach its next goal, they opt for commercial financing.

This method of financing allows even small business owners to keep working and hustling. Through this method, smaller businesses can easily get to the next step.

It is important that business owners know what they need. If they have an exact idea of what their business should have, then they may talk to a finance broker to make a commercial financing deal.

Here are a few options for commercial finance that businesses may need.

• Commercial Mortgages
• Asset-based Lending
• Factoring
• International Factoring
• Invoice Discounting
• Invoice Factoring
• Overdrafts
• Crowdfunding
• Reverse Factoring

Once the business has decided which one of these options they want, they go to the next step. This includes the process of filling out the application for your commercial finance. The application asks the business owner a few questions, such as, how big is your business? How much money will you need to reach your target? What industry does your business operate in? How long do you want the loan to last?

When you have thought about the answers to these questions, the broker will help you get through with your financing.

How Commercial Finance Works

Commercial finance includes the following two different methods.

• Debt Financing: This method requires the business owner to get the money through a loan. The loan can come either from a bank or from a company of commercial finance. In this method, the business will have to pay back the interest amount. Debt financing works with many commercial financing options. This method of commercial financing adds liability to your balance sheet.
• Equity Financing: This method of financing does not require the business to take a loan. Here, an investor will invest in the business. In return for this investment, some ownership of the business will go into their hands. This type of financial help comes from friends and family. When you choose the method, you do not remain the sole owner of the business.
  People who operate small businesses usually opt for debt financing. Once they have paid back the loan, they become the sole owners of that business. The company is completely theirs and all the profits come to them.

The Takeaway

A finance broker is a person who has multiple channels through which he or she can help a business. They help business owners in getting loans and selling and buying assets. Any kind of financial help that a business needs to achieve its targets is given to them by a broker.

There are different ways businesses get financial help. Through these ways, they can add more assets to their company or sell something to achieve a bigger goal.

Featured Image Credits: Pixabay

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