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3 Signs You Should Consider a Merchant Cash Advance

3 Signs You Should Consider a Merchant Cash Advance

3 Signs You Should Consider a Merchant Cash Advance
30
Apr 2019
27
Jul 2026

A merchant cash advance (MCA) is a popular alternative to the more traditional business loan, but these cash advances are not a perfect fit for every business owner. If you are looking for different financing options, consider some of the main reasons small business owners decide to choose an MCA.

MCA Repayments Are Within Sight

The repayment of a merchant cash advance is generated through a percentage of future credit and debit card revenue. If you believe that you will have the funds to repay the MCA in a reasonable time period, an MCA is a great option for a temporary cash infusion.

You Need Funding Fast

The approval process for an MCA compared to a business loan is considerably faster. Most MCA providers can approve applications and provide funding within 24-48 hours. If you know you have money coming in, but need a little extra to cover over a cash flow gap, to buy equipment, or to invest in business growth, an MCA is a great option.

No Restrictions

Some traditional lending options may put restrictions or dictate how you can spend any money you have borrowed. With a merchant cash advance, business owners are free to do what they need to do, and the approval is based on future revenue projections of the business, not its current value.Not having a constant supply of capital on hand shouldn’t stop you from growing your business. We can help you determine whether an MCA is right for you. Speak to an expert today.

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June 14, 2021
September 20, 2026

5 Reasons Why Merchant Cash Advance Works for Small Businesses

With COVID-19 vaccines being administered all around the world, it's only a matter of time that businesses resume their work in the field. While corporations will have little to no hurdles, it will be small businesses that will have to make more effort. You don’t need to be an expert to understand these issues in today's economy. Some help in reopening will allow any sort of company to see instant results if capital is invested and used effectively. This is where merchants cash advances come in. An MCA works very differently. You’re receiving funding from a financial solution business. However, the perk of getting an MCA is that you only have to pay it back from a percentage of your sales. If you aren’t making any sales, you won’t have to pay back anything. So, if that doesn’t sound like a reasonable enough argument to make you get an MCA to nudge your business in the right direction, let us continue. Here are five reasons why cash advances will work in our company’s favor.

Easy to Qualify

Today's economy makes it troublesome for businesses in terms of finance. Conventional loans have rigid requirements that are turning people away. Moreover, they take more time, and sometimes your request may be denied. Merchant cash advances are more viable as they offer a sum of money at a fixed rate, and are easy to qualify for, even for first-time owners. While bank loans require hours to fill out, these applications contain brief questionnaires, prioritizing output rather than processing information. Expand Office Space Upgrading your office will be one of the heftiest investments you’ll ever make. But, it’s a necessary one. If your office space no longer meets the requirements of your business, you have to move into something that’s more fit to your needs. However, it’s not cheap. Moving into a new office requires a ton of money upfront. An MCA can be a great way to complete the down payment and move into the new office.

Quick Funding

Traditional bank loans have an approval time for weeks, and it is not even certain if your application will get accepted or not. If you don’t want to get caught up in those waiting times, an MCA is the best option. Funds from an MCA could reach your account the same day as your application is submitted!

Works Despite Credit Score

There are cases when businesses are in a stable situation and may have a poor credit score. In such cases, qualifying for a loan is impossible as banks want a surety that you are a viable candidate for receiving money. A history of bad credit is a red flag that tells a bank you won’t be able to repay the loan. An MCA gives you a much reliable alternative for cases where credit scores are low. There will be some things that will change but you will still be entitled to receive a cash advance!

No Restrictions

With bank loans, there are a ton of rules and regulations that restrict you from spending your money on certain places. With an MCA, there’s no such limitations. You’re free to invest your advance into anything as long as it helps in the growth of your business. An MCA can help elevate your operation to new heights with greater flexibility and opportunities. If you’d like to learn more about obtaining a merchant cash advance for your business, 2M7 Financial Solutions is here to help. We offer merchant cash advances to businesses in all industries and of all sizes. Gain an edge over your competition and contact us today.

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October 14, 2026
October 14, 2026

Best equipment financing options in Canada 2026

Best overall for long-term ownership: an equipment loan. Best for planned replacement: an equipment lease. Best for flexible purchases: a business line of credit. This 2M7 guide compares equipment financing options in Canada for 2026 by ownership, cash flow and contract restrictions—not by advertised payments alone.

TL;DR

  • 2M7’s equipment financing Canada guide ranks equipment loans first for businesses seeking long-term ownership.
  • Equipment leases suit planned replacement, but return conditions and purchase options need close review.
  • Business lines of credit suit flexible purchases when repayment does not crowd out operating cash.
  • Compare vendor-arranged financing with direct financing using the same equipment quote and repayment assumptions.

Why this matters

Equipment financing affects more than your payment schedule. It determines whether you own the asset, what security the financier takes and what happens when you replace or sell the equipment.

A payment that fits today does not settle the decision. Your business also needs enough cash for maintenance, insurance, payroll and periods when the equipment produces less revenue.

For 2026, start with the asset’s job in your business. A machine you intend to keep needs a different financing assessment from equipment you expect to replace as your work changes.

What makes the best equipment financing option?

Use these criteria before comparing offers. The strongest option fits the equipment’s working life and your repayment capacity without creating an unwanted exit obligation.

  • Ownership: Decide whether you need title to the equipment or only the right to use it.
  • Payment fit: Match scheduled obligations to cash your business can reliably generate, not its busiest period.
  • Total obligation: Compare the full payment schedule, fees and any required final payment or purchase amount.
  • Security: Identify the assets pledged and whether a personal guarantee is required.
  • Exit terms: Check early repayment, early termination, sale restrictions and end-of-term responsibilities.
  • Asset fit: Confirm that the proposed arrangement accepts the specific equipment, condition and intended use.

Ask for written terms. A verbal explanation of ownership or an end-of-term purchase option is not a substitute for the contract.

Equipment financing options at a glance

These 5 financing routes serve different needs. Vendor-arranged financing describes how you obtain the offer; the underlying contract can still be a loan or lease.

Equipment loan

  • Best for: Long-term ownership
  • Standout feature: Finances an equipment purchase with scheduled repayment
  • Key limitation: Security and repayment obligations remain until discharged

Equipment lease

  • Best for: Planned replacement
  • Standout feature: Provides equipment use under an agreed lease term
  • Key limitation: Ownership and exit depend on the contract

Business line of credit

  • Best for: Flexible purchases
  • Standout feature: Allows borrowing and repayment within an approved facility
  • Key limitation: Equipment debt can consume working-capital capacity

Vendor-arranged financing

  • Best for: Purchase coordination
  • Standout feature: Connects the equipment purchase with a financing application
  • Key limitation: Convenience does not establish the best financing terms

Secured business loan

  • Best for: Equipment within a broader project
  • Standout feature: Can fund an eligible project containing equipment and other expenses
  • Key limitation: Security can extend beyond the purchased equipment

The table ranks financing structures, not lenders. Approval criteria, documentation and contract terms differ between providers, so the same structure can produce very different obligations.

1. Equipment loan: best equipment financing for long-term ownership

An equipment loan finances the purchase of equipment and requires repayment under an agreed schedule. The business purchases the asset, while the lender can take security over it or other agreed assets.

An equipment loan is the default choice when ownership is the goal and scheduled repayments fit the business. That does not make every equipment loan suitable: the security agreement, repayment terms and asset restrictions still decide whether the offer works.

Equipment loan pros

  • Supports purchasing equipment you intend to keep.
  • Provides a defined repayment schedule under the agreement.
  • Separates the purchase from a lease-return decision.
  • Lets you assess financing alongside the equipment’s expected working life.

Equipment loan cons

  • Repayments continue even when the equipment is idle.
  • Security requirements can restrict disposal of the asset.
  • Early repayment conditions require review before signing.

Best for: Businesses buying equipment for continuing use rather than routine replacement.

Before accepting a 2026 equipment loan, ask what happens if the asset needs replacement before repayment ends. You need to know whether sale proceeds can discharge the financing, whether lender consent is required and whether any remaining balance survives the sale.

Verdict — Buy: Choose an equipment loan when you want ownership and can support the repayment schedule through quieter trading periods.

2. Equipment lease: best equipment financing for planned replacement

An equipment lease gives your business the right to use equipment under an agreement with the lessor. The contract determines the payment schedule, permitted use, maintenance responsibilities and end-of-term choices.

A lease is not automatically a path to ownership. If ownership matters, identify the purchase option and its conditions before comparing the lease with a loan.

Equipment lease pros

  • Suits businesses focused on equipment use rather than immediate ownership.
  • Establishes a defined term for the equipment arrangement.
  • Allows a planned end-of-term decision where the contract provides suitable choices.
  • Can align with a replacement plan when the lease conditions support it.

Equipment lease cons

  • Early termination can create contractual obligations.
  • Return conditions can add work and expense at the end.
  • A purchase option is not the same as an unconditional transfer of ownership.

Best for: Businesses with a defined replacement plan and equipment needs that fit the lease term.

For a 2026 lease comparison, request the return requirements alongside the payment schedule. Equipment condition, transport responsibilities and notice deadlines belong in the decision, not in a separate file you read later.

Also distinguish financing from service. Maintenance, repairs and replacement equipment are included only when the agreement explicitly says so.

Verdict — Buy: Choose an equipment lease when the use period and end-of-term obligations match your replacement plan; skip it when ownership terms are unclear.

3. Business line of credit: best equipment financing for flexible purchases

A business line of credit allows borrowing within an approved limit under the facility’s terms. It can fund equipment purchases where the agreement permits that use, without a separate equipment-financing contract for each purchase.

Flexibility is its main advantage. The trade-off is that the equipment purchase uses capacity your business might otherwise need for operating expenses.

Business line of credit pros

  • Supports purchases at different times within the approved facility.
  • Allows repayment and further borrowing under the agreement.
  • Avoids matching every purchase to a separate equipment contract.
  • Provides flexibility when the final purchasing schedule is uncertain.

Business line of credit cons

  • Equipment borrowing reduces remaining credit capacity.
  • Variable-rate terms expose borrowing costs to rate changes.
  • An accessible facility still needs a deliberate repayment plan.

Best for: Businesses making flexible purchases while preserving enough unused capacity for operations.

Do not treat the available limit as an equipment budget. First reserve the capacity needed for supplier payments, payroll and revenue interruptions, then assess what remains.

Compare a line of credit with a dedicated equipment loan when the purchase will stay financed for a long period. Flexible borrowing is useful only if the repayment plan fits the asset and does not leave operating cash permanently constrained.

Verdict — Hold: Use a business line of credit for equipment only after setting a repayment plan and protecting working-capital capacity.

4. Vendor-arranged financing: best equipment financing for purchase coordination

Vendor-arranged financing connects an equipment purchase with a financing offer or application through the seller. The seller might introduce a financing provider or present an arrangement available for that purchase.

This is a purchasing channel, not a distinct financial contract. Determine whether the actual offer is a loan, lease or another agreement before assessing its suitability.

Vendor-arranged financing pros

  • Coordinates the equipment quote with the financing application.
  • Keeps the proposed asset clearly identified during the process.
  • Gives you an offer to compare with independently obtained financing.

Vendor-arranged financing cons

  • The presented offer does not represent every financing option.
  • Purchase convenience can distract from security and exit terms.
  • The financing provider and equipment seller can be separate parties.

Best for: Buyers who want coordinated purchasing but will still compare the written financing agreement.

Request the equipment quote separately from the financing schedule. This makes it easier to compare the same asset across offers without confusing equipment charges with financing obligations.

For a 2026 purchase, ask who handles an equipment dispute and who collects payments. Do not assume a dispute with the seller automatically pauses obligations to a separate financier.

Verdict — Hold: Consider vendor-arranged financing after comparing its underlying contract with a direct financing offer for the same equipment.

5. Secured business loan: best equipment financing for a broader project

A secured business loan can fund eligible business purposes under the lender’s agreement. Equipment can form part of a wider project that also includes installation, premises work or other approved expenses.

This route deserves consideration when the equipment purchase is only one part of the funding need. Its central limitation is the security package: assets beyond the equipment can be pledged.

Secured business loan pros

  • Can address an eligible project rather than an isolated asset purchase.
  • Allows equipment and related approved expenses to be assessed together.
  • Provides a repayment structure for the agreed borrowing.

Secured business loan cons

  • Security can extend beyond the financed equipment.
  • Broader funding needs require careful documentation of eligible uses.
  • Project delays do not automatically change repayment obligations.

Best for: Businesses funding equipment within a defined expansion or installation project.

Separate the equipment budget from the rest of the project before applying. You need to understand which expenses the proposed facility covers and which must come from existing cash.

Compare this route against a dedicated equipment loan plus separately funded project expenses. The choice depends on repayment fit and security exposure, not simply whether one agreement feels easier to administer.

Verdict — Hold: Choose a secured business loan when the wider project justifies it and the pledged assets are acceptable.

How the options are ranked

This 2M7 equipment financing guide ranks each route by its clearest use case: ownership, planned replacement, purchasing flexibility, purchase coordination or broader project funding.

Equipment loans take the default position because they directly address an equipment purchase with ownership as the objective. Leases take the replacement slot; lines of credit take the flexibility slot. Vendor arrangements and broader secured loans require an additional check because the channel or project scope does not itself establish suitable financing terms.

No ranking substitutes for reviewing the actual contract. An unsuitable equipment loan loses to a lease that genuinely fits your business.

Check cash flow before choosing

Build a 12-month cash-flow forecast that includes the proposed financing obligations and equipment operating expenses. Use 3 cash-flow scenarios: expected trading, weaker revenue and an equipment interruption.

Follow this sequence before signing:

  • Define ownership: State whether you need to own the asset or use it for a defined period.
  • Check obligations: Include scheduled payments, required fees and end-of-term commitments.
  • Stress cash flow: Test repayment alongside payroll, suppliers, maintenance and insurance.
  • Review exit: Read the conditions for repayment, termination, sale or return.

The weaker-revenue scenario should show whether your business can meet obligations without relying on the equipment operating continuously. The interruption scenario should include the operational consequence of downtime as well as the financing payment.

Four checks covering ownership, obligations, cash flow and exit terms

Check repayment capacity and exit terms before accepting the financing agreement.

Keep assumptions consistent across offers. Comparing one arrangement using strong sales and another using cautious sales tells you nothing useful about the financing itself.

Which equipment financing option should you choose?

Choose an equipment loan first when you want to own equipment for continuing use. Compare a lease when replacement is planned, and consider a line of credit only when equipment borrowing leaves sufficient operating capacity.

For equipment financing in Canada in 2026, use the 2M7 guide to choose the structure before comparing providers. Then compare written offers for the same equipment, funding need and intended use period.

If none of the offers survives your cash-flow checks, wait. Financing does not fix a purchase that your business cannot support.

FAQ

What’s the best equipment financing option in Canada?

An equipment loan is the default option for businesses seeking long-term ownership and scheduled repayment. A lease fits planned replacement better when its end-of-term conditions match the business’s needs.

Is an equipment loan better than a lease?

An equipment loan is better aligned with ownership; a lease is better aligned with use over an agreed term. Compare security, repayment obligations and exit conditions before choosing.

Can I buy equipment with a business line of credit?

You can use a business line of credit for equipment when the facility permits that use. Set a repayment plan and preserve enough capacity for operating expenses.

Does an equipment lease include maintenance?

An equipment lease includes maintenance only when the agreement explicitly provides it. Review responsibility for repairs, servicing, insurance and equipment downtime separately.

Is vendor financing a loan or a lease?

Vendor-arranged financing can involve a loan or lease, depending on the underlying agreement. Identify the actual financing provider and contract type before comparing the offer.

How much does equipment financing cost in Canada?

Equipment financing costs depend on the written offer, including financing charges, fees and required final obligations. Compare complete schedules for the same equipment and funding need rather than payments alone.

What should I check before signing an equipment financing agreement?

Check ownership, payment obligations, security, guarantees and exit conditions before signing. Test the agreement against expected trading, weaker revenue and an equipment interruption.

One last thing

The end of the agreement belongs in the beginning of your decision. Before accepting equipment financing in 2026, write down exactly what you must do to own, return, sell or replace the asset.

If you cannot explain that outcome in plain language, pause and get the relevant contract clause clarified. The final obligation matters as much as the first payment.

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September 1, 2023
October 20, 2026

What is Working Capital?

A big part of business is focusing on profit margins and productivity, but keeping a business operating healthily gets a bit more complicated than that. One of the concepts you can’t afford to neglect is working capital. Working capital is a necessary data point for any business, and while sometimes it’s taking a bit more time to understand, it is absolutely crucial for maintaining a healthy balance sheet and operating effectively. We’re going to go over what working capital is, why it’s important, and some of its uses in the business world. Let’s get started.

What is Working Capital?

Working capital is essentially what you have left after taking out all the money you need to pay the bills. Think of it like you would in your personal life with a normal job. You get paid, you add up all your household bills and debts, set that money aside to take care of those necessary expenses, and you can work with whatever you have left. If needed, you also have assets you can leverage such as your savings, valuables, and other things that can help beyond the cash you have on hand. In more professional terms, this is everything you have, assets and cash on hand, minus the liabilities you have such as credit card debt, the bills necessary to keep the business running, payable taxes, and more. How you determine your overall working capital is by adding up your assets and financial resources and subtracting the total amount required to pay your expenses. We’ll keep it easy with solid numbers, but your actual calculation will likely be slightly more complicated. Let’s say you add up your assets and have $100,000 in value. After you add up your liabilities, you calculate that you have $50,000 to pay in total. $100,000 minus $50,000 is $50,000. That's your working capital.

Why is Working Capital Important?

Working capital is important in two main ways. At a first glance, it seems as if having as much of it available as possible, but that’s not quite accurate. Let’s go over both ways it can go and why balance is important.

What is Negative Working Capital, and Why it is Important?

This is the primary concern most business owners are going to have, and it’s certainly one that is most immediately noticeable. Negative working capital is when you use the formula we provided earlier, and you don’t have enough to cover your liabilities. That means you don’t have enough to pay your bills, essentially. If you don’t have the capital available to pay off your liabilities, you certainly can’t commit to any sort of growth, and the immediate future of your business doesn’t look promising, either. There are solutions to this that we will talk about later, but this is the worst-case scenario in a lot of situations.

What is Positive Capital, and Why it is Important?

Positive working capital is the opposite of negative working capital. It’s when you do have some resources left over to work with. For example, if you were the average homeowner working a normal job, you’d have some money left over after paying bills. Not all of it is “take home money”. Some of it has to go into savings in case you plan something big, like a major family trip abroad. The same concept goes for positive capital in business. That doesn’t mean that having it in extreme excess is optimal, though. In fact, it can mean that you’re making poor business decisions. If you regularly have way more working capital than expected, it typically means that you’re not taking advantage of growth opportunities, low debt situations, and other crucial parts of the business world. In the long term, this can mean that your business growth stagnant and that excess will start to decline eventually. It can also mean that you’re not providing reasonable upkeep for your business, which has major consequences, or it can mean that you’ve failed to account for various liabilities and your results are false; which is a major accounting error. In the vast majority of situations, you want to have your growth goals in mind, and you want enough to facilitate those goals. It’s also “working” capital. So, make sure it’s working for you.

How to Increase Working Capital for Higher Growth Potential?

Whether your business has a negative working capital amount, or you simply have larger growth goals you want to accomplish, increasing your working capital is usually going to be attractive. As long as you’re actually using it. Doing that can be difficult, but there are some key data points to target and strategies to use. Primarily, you’ll have two core options: You can increase the number of assets you have to offset your liabilities, or you can get rid of some liabilities such as debts that are close to being paid off.

Increasing Working Capital Assets:

Increasing your working capital assets is going to focus on improving your margins. The larger your margin is, the more working capital you’ll have left over assuming you don’t increase your liabilities. This is essentially the same as telling you to "earn more money”, which isn’t very constructive if money is the problem in the first place. If you’re already generating positive working capital, focusing some of those resources on short-term growth that helps with your margins is a strategy you can use. However, that’s a problem if you’re in the negative since you don't have anything to work with. For example, let’s say you have positive working capital, but you don’t have enough to focus on your goals. You might not be financially capable right now. Instead, pump some of that into marketing a big sale, increasing your inventory in high-demand areas, and similar things to earn more working capital. That’s where a working capital loan comes in, and we’ll get to that shortly.

Decreasing Liabilities to Gain Working Capital:

The other way to earn more working capital is to get rid of liabilities where possible. If there is debt that can be paid off in the short term, paying that off frees up a little more to go toward working capital amounts. If you can lower your tax liability, that’s another way to keep a bit more of your margin. It can also be possible to delay purchases. While growth is the ultimate goal, if you’re struggling to maintain a healthy balance sheet, delaying purchases until you can generate more working capital to accommodate them is crucial. For example, let’s pretend you’re a restaurant. You’re moving around $50,000, but after you pay your vendors, staff, and landlord, you’re only keeping $10,000, and that’s your net working capital. If you can consolidate some of this cost, for example automate ordering process and reduce waiter’s team, you can lower the liability cost and generate more profits. Again, this is something that a working capital loan can help with if liability removal strategies aren’t working or aren’t feasible.

What is a Working Capital Loan?

Alright, we’ve talked about a variety of issues that can pop up with working capital and damage your ability to grow, but now it’s time to start talking about real solutions. There are a lot of situations where you just don’t have any room to work with. You can’t boost your assets, because you don’t have capital, and you can’t remove any liabilities, because they’re all long-term, non-negotiable, and absolutely required. So, how do you get over that speed bump? Primarily, you can get a working capital loan. A working capital loan is a loan used to overcome cash flow problems; but it’s not just used in negative circumstances. Any business owner can benefit from one at a certain point, and it can be a positive experience. Here are some of the ways it’s used.

Funding Growth Goals

1. Funding Growth Goals

Sometimes, you’ll have growth goals, and you’ll have positive working capital, but you just don’t have enough funds. In that circumstance, you can use a working capital loan to get that extra bit of funding you need in the short term. For example, let’s say it’s the perfect time to open a new location, but you’re $20,000 short on the overall costs. A working capital loan can help. Of course, the payments will become liabilities later. So, it’s best to be in a relatively healthy position when using a loan for this purpose. For another perspective on using funding to support growth, read merchant cash advance funding for business growth.

2. Overcoming Financial Speed Bumps

Every business will experience a speed bump in its financial growth at some point. Take COVID-19 for example. Nearly every business went from doing great to suddenly seeing a drop in assets for one reason or another. A working capital loan can help overcome those bumps. If you go into the negative slightly, you can get a working capital loan that helps you remove smaller liabilities and invest in ways to build up non-depreciating assets to grow your margins. There are strategies involved in using a working capital loan this way, but one can save a business and keep it above water in such situations. It’s a lot like when you accidentally spend too much of your check as an average person, and your car payment is coming up. You don’t want to lose your car. So, you get a personal loan to cover it until you’re in a better situation.

3. Waiting on Invoice Payments

In an ideal world, all customers would pay on time, and you’d know exactly when funds were going to arrive. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Sometimes, you’ll technically have plenty of working capital on the horizon, but invoices just aren’t getting paid on time. A working capital loan can work like an advance on those invoices to make sure you’re still able to make moves while you wait.

4. Taking Advantage of Opportunities

Sometimes, you’ll be presented with opportunities you don’t want to pass up. For example, maybe you rely heavily on a supplier’s hardware for one of the products you manufacture. For a limited time, they’re offering half-off on bulk shipments of that hardware. That can allow for tremendous savings in the future and a lot of potential for growth. However, you might not have the ability to fund it without throwing your balance sheet off balance. This is another situation where a working capital loan can be the little edge you need to come out on top. Its fast, gets the job done, and keeps you from missing such fruitful opportunities.

Understanding the Working Capital Cycle

Beyond noticing problems with your working capital and finding solutions, you’re also going to want to look at the working capital cycle. This will help you predict when you’re going to have certain assets available, and that allows you to plan for them efficiently. The working capital cycle is the time it takes for your assets to become cash that can pay off your liabilities. For instance, think about the customer invoices for a subscription service. You know that 1000 customers are set to pay their invoice on the 30th. That means that, while you have those accounts as assets, they aren’t realized yet. You don’t actually have the money. The time between now and those payments clearing is your working capital cycle. After the 30th, you would be able to pay your liabilities in this scenario. As such, you want to streamline your working capital cycle as much as possible to ensure everything is moving quickly and efficiently. The best way to do this is to ensure that your customer payments are covering your liabilities. Since waiting for accounts to clear usually takes the longest, ensuring that they pay the liabilities off allows your other assets to simply keep growing and building up more working capital.

The Risk of Certain Working Capital Assets

You’ve probably put together a decent understanding of what working capital assets are at this point. If not, the basics are your customer invoices, inventory, cash, and pre-paid debts. One of those is somewhat volatile, and you shouldn’t aim to build much of your working capital on it. That’s your inventory. Your inventory can be a risky asset. It can become obsolete, depreciate in value, and dramatically impact your working capital amount without any chance of turning into cash. Take fidget spinners for example. During the craze, everyone stocked up on them. That was almost guaranteed cash flow. However, when the trend stopped, that inventory became largely useless. Anyone with too much inventory consisting of that product saw their cash flow tank. This can happen with anything. So, it’s important to understand that risk, diversify assets, and have a solid plan to use your inventory; not just stockpile it for perceived working capital. Think of all the people who bought into Beanie Babies in the 90s, and then think of what happened a few years later when no one cared. The Beanie Babies represent your inventory, and no one caring represents your entire inventory devaluing like crazy. You don’t want things sitting around unless they are guaranteed to be necessary for the future.

3 Types of Working Capital

The Three Types of Working Capital and How to Differentiate

Finally, there are three types of working capital, and while they all generally work the same way, you will need to differentiate between them.

1. Net Working Capital

This is all the working capital you have at your disposal, and it’s the general number that you’re going to want to keep tabs on.

2. Temporary Working Capital

This is your working capital amount in temporary situations. Think of things such as the speed bumps we talked about earlier, or maybe even expected boosts such as holiday sales. Since the causes for the fluctuations are temporary, you have to work that into your understanding of your working capital during that time period.

3. Permanent Working Capital

The name of this one is misleading. It’s not the amount you’re guaranteed to have all the time. It’s the amount you absolutely need to make it. If you make less, your business’s health starts dropping, and you either fix it or lose it. This is the bottom line of what you need to barely get by, and you want to calculate it regularly since your liabilities and assets will change regularly.

Get a Working Capital Loan with 2M7 Financial Solutions

If you’ve gone through this brief guide and realized you could really use a working capital loan to help your business for any reason, contact us to start the process. We specialize in advanced loans that can help your business seize opportunities, fix temporary problems, and continue operating in a healthy state.

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