What Is an 80-10-10 Mortgage?

An 80-10-10 mortgage is a loan where first and second mortgages are obtained simultaneously. The first mortgage lien is taken with an 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, meaning that it is 80% of the home’s cost; the second mortgage lien has a 10% LTV ratio, and the borrower makes a 10% down payment.

This arrangement can be contrasted with the traditional single mortgage with a down payment amount of 20%.

The 80-10-10 mortgage is a type of piggyback mortgage.

Understanding an 80-10-10 Mortgage

​​​​​​​When a prospective homeowner buys a home with less than the standard 20% down payment, they are required to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI). PMI is insurance that protects the financial institution lending the money against the risk of the borrower defaulting on a loan. An 80-10-10 mortgage is frequently used by borrowers to avoid paying PMI, which would make a homeowner’s monthly payment higher.

In general, 80-10-10 mortgages tend to be popular at times when home prices are accelerating. As homes become less affordable, making a 20% down payment of cash might be difficult for an individual. Piggyback mortgages allow buyers to borrow more money than their down payment might suggest.

The first mortgage of an 80-10-10 mortgage is usually always a fixed-rate mortgage. The second mortgage is usually an adjustable-rate mortgage, such as a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC).

Benefits of an 80-10-10 Mortgage

The second mortgage functions like a credit card, but with a lower interest rate since the equity in the home will back it. As such, it only incurs interest when you use it. This means that you can pay off the home equity loan or HELOC in full or in part and eliminate interest payments on those funds. Moreover, once settled, the HELOC remains. This credit line can act as an emergency pool for other expenses, such as home renovations or even education.

An 80-10-10 loan is a good option for people who are trying to buy a home but have not yet sold their existing home. In that scenario, they would use the HELOC to cover a portion of the down payment on the new home. They would pay off the HELOC when the old home sells.

HELOC interest rates are higher than those for conventional mortgages, which will somewhat offset the savings gained by having an 80% mortgage. If you intend to pay off the HELOC within a few years, this may not be a problem.

When home prices are rising, your equity will increase along with your home’s value. But in a housing market downturn, you could be left dangerously underwater with a home that’s worth less than you owe.

Example of an 80-10-10 Mortgage

The Doe family wants to purchase a home for $300,000, and they have a down payment of $30,000, which is 10% of the total home’s value. With a conventional 90% mortgage, they will need to pay PMI on top of the monthly mortgage payments. Also, a 90% mortgage will generally carry a higher interest rate. 

Instead, the Doe family can take out an 80% mortgage for $240,000, possibly at a lower interest rate, and avoid the need for PMI. At the same time, they would take out a second 10% mortgage of $30,000. This most likely would be a HELOC. The down payment will still be 10%, but the family will avoid PMI costs, get a better interest rate, and thus have lower monthly payments.

What Is Additional Paid-in Capital (APIC)?

Additional paid-in capital (APIC) is an accounting term referring to money an investor pays above and beyond the par value price of a stock.

Often referred to as “contributed capital in excess of par,” APIC occurs when an investor buys newly-issued shares directly from a company during its initial public offering (IPO) stage. APIC, which is itemized under the shareholder equity (SE) section of a balance sheet, is viewed as a profit opportunity for companies as it results in them receiving excess cash from stockholders.

How Additional Paid-in Capital (APIC) Works

During its IPO, a firm is entitled to set any price for its stock that it sees fit. Meanwhile, investors may elect to pay any amount above this declared par value of a share price, which generates the APIC.

Let us assume that during its IPO phase the XYZ Widget Company issues one million shares of stock, with a par value of $1 per share, and that investors bid on shares for $2, $4, and $10 above the par value. Let us further assume that those shares ultimately sell for $11, consequently making the company $11 million. In this instance, the APIC is $10 million ($11 million minus the par value of $1 million). Therefore, the company’s balance sheet itemizes $1 million as “paid-in capital,” and $10 million as “additional paid-in capital.”

Once a stock trades in the secondary market, an investor may pay whatever the market will bear. When investors buy shares directly from a given company, that corporation receives and retains the funds as paid-in capital. But after that time, when investors buy shares in the open market, the generated funds go directly into the pockets of the investors selling off their positions.

Special Considerations

APIC is generally booked in the SE section of the balance sheet. When a company issues stock, there are two entries that take place in the equity section: common stock and APIC. The total cash generated by the IPO is recorded as a debit in the equity section, and the common stock and APIC are recorded as credits.

The APIC formula is:

APIC = (Issue Price – Par Value) x Number of Shares Acquired by Investors.

Par Value

Due to the fact that APIC represents money paid to the company above the par value of a security, it is essential to understand what par actually means. Simply put, “par” signifies the value a company assigns to stock at the time of its IPO, before there is even a market for the security. Issuers traditionally set stock par values deliberately low—in some cases as little as a penny per share—in order to preemptively avoid any potential legal liability, which might occur if the stock dips below its par value.

Market Value

Market value is the actual price a financial instrument is worth at any given time. The stock market determines the real value of a stock, which shifts continuously as shares are bought and sold throughout the trading day. Thus, investors make money on the changing value of a stock over time, based on company performance and investor sentiment.

Additional Paid-in Capital vs. Paid-in Capital

Paid-in capital, or contributed capital, is the full amount of cash or other assets that shareholders have given a company in exchange for stock. Paid-in capital includes the par value of both common and preferred stock plus any amount paid in excess.

Additional paid-in capital, as the name implies, includes only the amount paid in excess of the par value of stock issued during a company’s IPO.

Both of these items are included next to one another in the SE section of the balance sheet.

Benefits of Additional Paid-in Capital

For common stock, paid-in capital consists of a stock’s par value and APIC, the latter of which may provide a substantial portion of a company’s equity capital, before retained earnings begin to accumulate. This capital provides a layer of defense against potential losses, in the event that retained earnings begin to show a deficit. 

Another huge advantage for a company issuing shares is that it does not raise the fixed cost of the company. The company doesn’t have to make any payment to the investor; even dividends are not required. Furthermore, investors do not have any claim on the company’s existing assets.

After issuing stock to shareholders, the company is free to use the funds generated any way it chooses, whether that means paying off loans, purchasing an asset, or any other action that may benefit the company.

Correction—March 29, 2022: A previous version of this article inaccurately represented where APIC appears on the balance sheet.

What Is Average Cost Method?

Average cost method assigns a cost to inventory items based on the total cost of goods purchased or produced in a period divided by the total number of items purchased or produced. Average cost method is also known as weighted-average method.

Understanding the Average Cost Method

Businesses that sell products to customers have to deal with inventory, which is either bought from a separate manufacturer or produced by the company itself. Items previously in inventory that are sold off are recorded on a company’s income statement as cost of goods sold (COGS). COGS is an important figure for businesses, investors, and analysts as it is subtracted from sales revenue to determine gross margin on the income statement. To calculate the total cost of goods sold to consumers during a period, different companies use one of three inventory cost methods:

Average cost method uses a simple average of all similar items in inventory, regardless of purchase date, followed by a count of final inventory items at the end of an accounting period. Multiplying the average cost per item by the final inventory count gives the company a figure for the cost of goods available for sale at that point. The same average cost is also applied to the number of items sold in the previous accounting period to determine the COGS.

Example of Average Cost Method

For example, consider the following inventory ledger for Sam’s Electronics:

What Is Attrition in Business?

The term attrition refers to a gradual but deliberate reduction in staff numbers that occurs as employees leave a company and are not replaced.

It is commonly used to describe the downsizing of a firm’s employee pool by human resources (HR) professionals. In this case, downsizing is voluntary, where employees either resign or retire and aren’t replaced by the company.

Understanding Attrition

Employee attrition refers to the deliberate downsizing of a company’s workforce. Downsizing happens when employees resign or retire. This type of reduction in staff is called a hiring freeze. It is one way a company can decrease labor costs without the disruption of layoffs.

There are a number of reasons why employee attrition takes place. They include:

• Unsatisfactory pay and/or benefits
• Lack of opportunity
• Poor workplace conditions
• Poor work-life balance
• Illness and death
• Retirement
• Relocation

Types of Attrition

Voluntary Attrition

Voluntary attrition occurs when employees leave a company of their own volition. Employees leaving voluntarily may indicate that there are problems at the company. Or, it may mean that people have personal reasons for departing that are unrelated to the business.

For example, some employees voluntarily leave when they get a new job elsewhere. They may be moving to a new area which makes the commute impossible. They might have decided to try a different career and therefore need a different type of job.

Voluntary attrition can also occur when employees retire. This is also referred to as natural attrition. Unless a company experiences an unusually high rate of early retirements, employees retiring shouldn’t be a cause for concern for management.

Involuntary Attrition

Involuntary attrition occurs when the business dismisses employees. This can happen because of an employee’s poor or disruptive performance. Dismissal might be tied to an employee’s misconduct.

Companies may have to eliminate an employee’s position. Or, they might have to lay off employees due to worrisome economic conditions.

Internal Attrition

Internal attrition refers to movement out of one department or division and into another. The employee isn’t leaving the company. They’re simply making a move within it.

For instance, internal attrition can occur when an employee gets promoted to a different management level. Or, they move laterally to a different section because a job there was more suitable.

Internal attrition can signal that a company offers good opportunities for career growth. On the other hand, if one department has a high internal attrition rate, it may be experiencing problems. The company should investigate and address them, if need be.

Demographic-Related Attrition

Demographic-related attrition results when people identified with certain demographic groups depart a company unexpectedly and quickly. These could be women, ethnic minorities, veterans, older employees, or those with disabilities.

Such an exodus could mean that employees have encountered some form of harassment or discrimination. That should be of concern to all companies because such behavior can undermine a positive workplace environment and successful business operations.

Action should be taken quickly to understand what caused such departures. Rectifying demographic-related attrition is a must because inclusion should be a top goal of every company. Plus, a company can put a halt to the loss of employees of great value and promise. Diversity training can help.

Customer Attrition

While not related to employee attrition, it’s important that a business also be aware of customer attrition.

Customer attrition happens when a company’s customer base begins to shrink. The rate of customer attrition is sometimes referred to as the churn rate. Customer attrition can mean that a company is in trouble and could suffer a loss of revenue.

Customer attrition can take place for a variety of reasons:

• Loyal customers switch their preference to products of another company
• Aging customers aren’t being replaced by younger ones
• Bad customer service
• Changes in product lines
• Failure to update product lines
• Poor product quality

Benefits of Attrition

Attrition has its positive aspects. By its simplest definition, it’s a natural diminishing of the workforce. This can be welcome when the economy is in bad shape or a recession looms and, if not for attrition, a company would face the prospect of having to lay off employees (when it doesn’t want to lose them).

Here are other times when attrition might help:

• If one company acquires another and must deal with redundancies.
• If a company redirects its vision toward a new goal and must restructure or reduce the workforce.
• When new employees are needed to refresh a workplace environment with new ideas and new energy.
• When a company seeks natural opportunities to better diversify a department or division.
• When employees with poor attitudes or performance should be removed to improve workplace culture, reduce costs, or make room for new hires who are a great fit.

The Attrition Rate

The attrition rate is the rate at which people leave a company during a particular period of time. It’s useful for a business to track attrition rates over time so it can see whether departures are increasing or decreasing. A change in the attrition rate can alert management to potential problems within the company that may be causing employee departures.

The formula for the attrition rate is:

Attrition rate = number of departures/average number of employees¹ x 100

Say that 25 employees left ABC Company last year. In addition, the company had an average of 250 employees for the year ((200 + 300)/2).

With those figures, you can now calculate the attrition rate:

Attrition rate = 25/250 x 100

Attrition rate = 0.1 x 100

Attrition rate = 10%

¹ To calculate the average number of employees, add the number that existed at the beginning of the time period to the number that existed at the end of the time period. Then, divide by two.

Why It’s Important to Measure Attrition

By measuring attrition rates, a company may pinpoint problems that are causing voluntary attrition. That’s important because the costs associated with losing valuable employees whom you’d like to retain can be staggering.

For example, the cost to hire and train a new employee when one employee voluntarily departs can be one-half to two times that employee’s annual salary.

Company profits can be affected negatively when knowledgeable, experienced employees leave and productivity suffers.

Loss of customers can go hand in hand with loss of valued employees. That can mean another hit to profits tied to former employees who understood company products and services, and how to sell them.

Attrition vs. Layoffs

Sometimes, employees choose to leave an existing job to take a new one or because they’re retiring. An attrition policy takes advantage of such voluntary departures to reduce overall staff.

Laying off employees doesn’t involve a voluntary action on the part of the employee. However, layoffs do result in attrition when a company doesn’t immediately hire as many new employees as it laid off.

Layoffs occur when a company is faced with a financial crisis and must cut its workforce to stay afloat.

Sometimes, due to changes in company structure or a merger, certain departments are trimmed or eliminated. Rather than relying on natural attrition associated with voluntary employee departures, this usually requires layoffs.

Attrition vs. Turnover

Turnover takes place in a company’s workforce when people leave their job and are replaced by new employees. In such instances, there is no attrition.

Employee turnover is generally counted within a one-year period. This loss of talent occurs in a company for many reasons. As with voluntary attrition, employees may retire, relocate, find a better job, or change their career.

Companies can study turnover to make needed changes. For instance, many employees leaving within a short period of time probably signals issues within a company that must be dealt with.

Just as with voluntary attrition, management can use turnover information to initiate changes that will make the company a more amenable place for new and existing employees.

The Bottom Line

Attrition refers to the gradual but deliberate reduction in staff that occurs as employees leave a company and aren’t replaced.

Employees may leave voluntarily or involuntarily. Or, they may simply move from one department to another. In that case, attrition occurs when the former department doesn’t replace the employee. Employees may also leave for reasons of discrimination.

Calculating and tracking attrition rates can be useful to companies. High attrition rates indicate more people are leaving. They can signal that some problem is causing these departures and must be dealt with to improve the working environment.

Of course, a certain level of attrition can be helpful because it can avoid the need for layoffs in difficult economic times.