Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with business and finance

She works hard for the money...

firei — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:05:20 -0800

A friend of mine wants to open a business, and is looking for information on business loans or grants specifically for women. I've been on the SBA and SCORE websites, but haven't been able to find too much info. Everyone always says that there's a lot of financial assistance for women looking to open businesses, but I'm having trouble finding it!

If it helps: I believe she is looking to open a dog grooming/training facility.

Specifics would be awesome, but general links would be alright as well.

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home.

mintchip — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:50 -0800

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home. I have been interested in having my own business. I have read business magazines for years and have even had a couple of small service-based businesses that I ran part time. No big bucks there but a rewarding experience.

Recently I've been considering trying to start a business for real. I have a small sum of cash (between 10-20k) I've been slowly saving for a home down payment.

It's a tough choice. Since I need a home to live in, buying one would mean an investment in my future and security. However, chances are that I won't get rich working for a private company. In fact, it's quite hard to get ahead nowadays with most of the good middle management positions gone. Meanwhile, most of the people I've known who did quite well for themselves did it by owning their own business.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just thinking that owning a business seems like my best shot at getting ahead, and it also happens to be a genuine interest of mine. At the same time, starting a business is a huge risk (I think it's something like 4 out of 5 fail within 5 years) and I could lose the money as well as a lot of time and energy.

I believe I have many of the qualities that would contribute to success in business. But it's hard for me to know if I have all of them.

What's your take? How have those of you who have been in a similar position weighed the pros and cons of such a decision.

Economics' greatest hits? ... or... Where's the science in economics?

zaebiz — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:54:37 -0800

As a former scientist, help me gain some faith in economics. What were the great successes of economics as a tool for making better decisions in the last 100 years? The Queen of England said it best for me : Why did none of the big shot economists see this crisis coming?

Having been scientifically trained, I have always had this belief that economics is a mostly mathematical rationalisation of events after-the-fact with the same predictive capabilities as astrology and whose validity decreases as more people believe in it. Why am I wrong? what demonstrable uses has it had? Also interested in any books or papers discussing either side of this debate.

Trying to wrangle a creative business into a business plan is tons more difficult than I expected

divabat — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:09:10 -0800

How am I supposed to make financial projections for a business plan when I don't even know how much money I'd earn in a month? I'm in the process of starting up a small creative business aimed at providing services for creative productions & producers - anything from selling merchandise to stage managing to backup singing. From my experience, such people (basically anyone willing to do random grunt work that's necessary for a production to run) are quite in demand and it's something I enjoy doing anyway, so it's a viable idea. It's also going to be the brand/structure for my own performance/creative work.

I've already done a couple of gigs and am getting my name out there in the communities I want to work with. There are some grants and funding I'd like to explore, and they all require a business plan. However, I'm stuck at the financials section of the plan, because I don't know how to project my yearly cashflow or turnover.

The nature of my business means that my income is likely irregular, especially during the first year while I build my reputation. My potential income all depends on the people I work for, my level of experience, their budget, how friendly they are to me, whether they'd give me money or something in-kind, or so on. People tend to be really secretive about this as well.

I have an idea of a base hourly rate, based on previous work, but there's no telling how many of those hours I can fulfill. There's also the option of paid by commission, flat rates, retainers...so many variables!

I asked a well-known accountant in the arts industry this question and he gave me this reply:

I tend to not worry too much about income projections, well not upfront anyway, because, as you say, you have bugger-all idea of how much you’ll make. Instead, I concentrate on getting the costs identified and quantified as well as you can, and even that’s a bit more guessing than anything else. Once I’ve established how much the business is likely to cost on a day-to-day basis, then that tells you how much income you need to cover costs. Add to that your cost of day-to-day living. That tells you how much money you need to be getting to live on and run the business, in total. Subtract from that how much you get, say, from part time wages, and the balance becomes the business income you need to get by one. That’s the starting point and if you think you can make more than that, then that’s the figure you use. Don’t get too hung up on income from a budgeting perspective though; generally you’ll hustle enough to get by on!

I do have an estimated budget of my costs, as well as calculations of how much I'd need from my jobs (not just this one, but regular jobs as well) to get by. However, it still doesn't help my business plan - I'm not sure I can replace the Financial Projections section with "My accountant told me not to bother"!

How do you plan for irregularity in business, particularly a creative one? What do you do when you can't predict exactly how much you'll earn, but you have a pretty good idea why that's the case and how you'll price yourself?

Also, are there any examples of creative and unusual business plans? I know of the Right Brain Business Plan but that's about it really.

Help find me a business model

junger — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:47:02 -0800

Is there a realistic business model in personal finance advice/coaching? I'm a personal finance blogger and enjoy helping people to better manage their money.

I've started doing some one-on-one personal finance coaching, teaching people how to save for goals, pay themselves first, and get a better yield on their money. I don't sell anything or recommend investments, and I don't "manage wealth."

My passion is more in helping people get more from personal finance.

But I'm not sure there is a real money-making business model in one-on-one finance coaching. (I know that sounds weird, given it's all about money)

I charge a flat fee for a sit-down coaching session, and that's it. No monthly fees, etc. It's the best (most moral) way to charge, but it requires a huge base of customers to make real money.

Is there a real business model in this type of personal finance coaching?

I'm self employed and can't get any love from the lenders

Scientifik — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:08:08 -0800

How do I get a mortgage if I'm self employed? I'm self employed, have been so for about 2 years, business is doing very well in spite of the economy, I work from (a rental) home and have decided its time to buy a house. Nothing too fancy just a little 2 bedroom where I can work and play and all that.

I have good credit, a good chunk to put down but whats killing me is lenders are looking only at my 1040 Schedule C which is my income after all of my deductions. Basically the amount I'm taxed at. I make all the legal deductions I can so I don't get brutalized by the IRS however this makes my income look significantly lower and basically impossible to provide funding to.

No one at the bank has any answers other than either "Make fewer deductions" which means I'll pay significantly more in taxes, which means I can't put any money into savings. Or "Save more money" even if I save every penny I won't be able to buy a house for at least 5 years at which point who knows where housing will be.

Are there any lenders who specialize in the self employed or are a bit more reasonable and take more into account than just your tax returns?

Are there any options I have other than "wait"?

Passive income stream which covers your mortgage

lilyflower — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:23:43 -0800

What would you do if you had a passive income stream which covered your mortgage? I would like people to consider the following situation and give us their opinions on what they would do. We would like to hear how MeFi's out there would respond to having a similar financial position to the one I am going to describe below. This is one that my husband and I are currently entering and although we have our own ideas on how we would like to proceed, we were wondering how different people would approach the same circumstance.

My husband has developed a passive income stream which has consistently brought in enough money to cover our mortgage (approximately $2200 per month). We both work and prior to this passive income stream we still had enough money to cover all of our monthly expenses and save. We have an idea of how we would like our life to pan out, but we are really interested to know how other people might behave given our situation.

Would people turbo charge their pensions, pay off their mortgage faster, rent out their house while they move to different countries and work while they travel, have a child and one spouse no longer works, go part time and earn enough to cover the remaining bills?

I would like to clarify that this question does not concern the long term viability of the passive income stream. I will be happy to clarify my question further but please remember this is more about what you would do with your life given this income stream.

Not just profit but organic profit

rongorongo — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:20:57 -0800

What is meant by the term "Organic Profit"?

Help me find an internship in Oregon!

thatbrunette — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:16:54 -0800

Help me find an internship in Oregon! I am not sure of my next move, at this point. I live in a small town in Oregon, about an hour from Salem and an hour from Portland. My majors are Economics and Mathematics, and I would be so thrilled to find an internship in strategy consulting, RND, finance...the problem is the commute. I'm carless, and while the bus ride to Salem is manageable (40 minutes each way), the one to Portland is less so (2 hours each way). I've tried my professors as resources, and the career department is on a lookout, but the pickings are pretty slim it would seem. I'm reaching out to the Hive Mind for any possible connections that may be there! Any suggestions for expanding my search would be greatly appreciated, I've never interned before.

Help me make sense of small businss tax forms!

kmtiszen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:09:14 -0800

Starting a small, part-time, home-based eBay business in New York. What are the implications of registering for a Sale & Use Tax certificate? It looks like I'm going to need this certificate (DTF-17, I believe) before I deal with most wholesalers. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the purpose/implications of all these wonky tax forms, especially the "sales & use" tax. Could somebody possibly explain this one to me in my right-brained kind of English? What will it mean once tax time rolls around in April?

Unfortunately, I was not born with a gift for this kind of stuff, and I envy all of you who were. So thanks in advance for your big brains!

Small business planner?

malphigian — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:18:22 -0800

Help with small business financial (and organizational) planning? Recommendation for someone to talk to? I've had a small web business for a number of years now, mostly operating by using a network of freelancers. We're in the midst of making the jump to a more formal set up with full time employees.

The process is going pretty well, but one of the things I'd really like is someone to talk to about the financial planning side of the business. We don't necessarily need any financing right now, but I'd love someone I could talk to about preparing for that process down the road. As well as the nuts and bolts of organizing finances and preparing for full time employees.

I have an accountant, but he's focused strictly on the basic books. What I'm looking for is some kind of consultant who can give us advice, and who I can email questions to now and then.

I tried to google, I really did, but I don't know if what I'm looking for exists. All I found was a lot of state/city agencies (too basic/broad) and a lot of banks who want to loan me money. Are there people out there who do what I'm looking for and what do they call themselves?

Even better, any specific recommendations in the NYC area?

Thanks in advance!

I know the basics of money laundering. I need more in depth knowledge now.

reenum — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:26:15 -0800

I know the basics of money laundering. Now I want to read more about the various methods used in laundering money. I recently read a book called Crime School by Chris Mathers. He talked about the various methods used to launder money such as shell companies, the black market peso exchange, and smurfing.

I want sites, books, or articles that give true accounts of these methods at work, or a more in-depth explanation than that Mathers gave.

My head's about to explode...

Zé Pequeno — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:20:43 -0800

Can someone please point me in the right direction to find practice test papers for Financial Accounting? (Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Statements of Returns on Equity, Cash Flow Statements, Depreciation, Ratios, etc. etc.) Assorted business schools worries inside. Coming from a liberal arts academic background, I'm starting to really feel the pressure from my recently-started international business masters and get the impression I need to study ten times as hard as my classmates, most of whom have studied the subject at undergraduate level. At the moment, I'm fretting over Financial Accounting. Please help me to understand this subject!

Extra points for whoever can help me with Corporate Finance...

I was never strong at mathematics in school. Though I'm pretty good at mental arithmetic, I found the subject boring and didn't pay attention in class. Now I'm faced with the daunting task of getting to grips with Corporate Finance and have some decent books to help me, all of which cheerfully claim that the author needs no prior knowledge of Finance, just a knowledge of algebra! At the risk of appearing extremely dumb... I can't remember any algebra! What do I need to learn in order to understand the nimiety of equations by which I'm beginning to feel very overwhelmed?

Newsletter Name Help

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:14:15 -0800

Help me title the internal company newsletter! I'm responsible for the design and layout of an internal newsletter for my 30-40 person company. The newsletter is lighthearted in tone, with candid photos and community events as well as departmental updates to inform everyone what projects and developments are underway in departments they're uninvolved in. Everybody's too busy to really care what we call the darn thing, but I need something in the masthead. I need an innocuous but zippy title.

Say the company is called Jackson Financial Management, or JFM. (Names have been changed, but that's the format of the name.)

It's a third party money management business, which means it's the finance industry, so any money/investment puns are good. We have just passed one billion under management, a major milestone.

I'm not interested in rhymes or puns on the actual name, since it's actually the name of our President and founder, and that would be weird.

It's a rather posh company. They pamper us all with lots of fun perks. The expressed style of our employee group is what I think of as basically California wine country bourgeois. (No, I don't really fit in.) We've only recently stopped having drinking celebrations during work.

We're located right near the beach, and surfing/flipflops culture is pretty ingrained here. Little dress code in effect.

The newsletter will hopefully be distributed quarterly or so, but it's pretty flexible.

Help! I'm totally drawing a blank!

Being taxed as a business, despite being a public employee

the_bone — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:28:35 -0800

Los Angeles is hitting me for a big chunk of money for business taxes... this despite the fact that I am a public employee. (In advance: The answer to this question may very well be "get a lawyer/accountant," but I'm not flush with cash at the moment and would like to know what steps I can take short of that.)

I'm a teacher, and I do a small amount of work as a musician. I moved to CA in 2005, and filed taxes for that year here. I included 1099 forms (all from work done in FL, no less) in my tax filings for that year. I also did a small amount of musical work as an independent contractor in CA during 2006.

LA has decided that I am a business for some reason (I don't know why yet), and has decided to tax me. That's cool... but they are apparently basing their estimated tax on all of my income, including that earned as a teacher. The estimated tax far exceeds what I made from my independent contractor work last year in CA.

I'm filing for a hearing (it doesn't help matters that they've apparently tried to contact me, but I moved a few times last year for personal reasons, and some of my mail is just now starting to catch up with me a year later). I have no idea what to expect, what they want from me in terms of documentation, and so on.

I'm sure I'm leaving relevant information out. I have a lot of general anxiety about all matter financial as a matter of course, am having a world-class freakout over this at the moment, and I might be (hell, probably am) mis-explaining. I'll answer questions in the thread... I think my main reason to posting to AskMe is to find out what questions I should be asking LA about this. Thanks.

What's better: Get paid less now, or more later?

Wild_Eep — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:13:30 -0800

AccountingFilter: Client convenience aside, does receiving "instant payment" for my services via PayPal make financial sense rather than waiting for a check to come in the mail 30 days later? Help me unlock the secrets of the Time Value of Money. I'm sure this is a complete textbook example of TVM, but humor me.

An example:

Let's say that on July 1st, I perform work for a client, and the total for the work is USD $150.

In which scenario do I come out ahead on July 31?

Scenario A.) In which I process an "instant payment" for the client at the time of the services, and the client pays immediately via PayPal. PayPal takes out their 3%+$.30. I get the rest, and put it into my high-interest savings account which earns 5% annually and compounds monthly.

or

Scenario B.) In which I wait 30 days for a check to arrive in the mail, deposit the check's funds into the same 5% high-interest savings account. Assume that the check clears instantly, and that I have access to the full $150 on July 31.

So far, my guess is that if the 30-day window were expanded to 90 or 120 days, it would make sense to get-what-you-can right now, paypal fees be damned, but at 30 days, waiting for the check nets me more money.

I've checked out the wikipedia entry for Time Value of Money, but can't figure out the interest rate (decimal or integer?), period (month? year?). It sounds so easy, but my brain keeps getting in the way when it sees the equations.

Tax planning advice for the self employed.

Nothing — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:57:55 -0800

Tax planning advice for the self employed. The web is full of articles, the bookstores are full of guides. But there is so much "get rich quick" and "pay zero taxes" crap out there that I am not sure where to go for good, solid tax planning advice. Is it better to operate as an LLC? An s-corp? What expenses are deductible? What is a good system of recordkeeping? What records should be kept? If I have two related business pursuits, should I keep track of them separately or together? And so on. I know I need to see an accountant, but I'd like to be as educated as possible. Right now I am paying a rather high percentage of a rather small income in taxes. I'm not anti-tax, but I am very pro-eating.

So, what books do you recommend? What websites have accurate, useful articles? What has helped you better understand managing finances as a self employed person?

.org-Filter: What's a good free financial management platform for a non-profit startup?

wmeredith — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:33:55 -0800

Seeking open-source (free) financial management software for a not-for-profit start up. Has anyone used something they were pleased with? The company is promoting Improvisational Comedy in the Kansas City area, if that matters at all. We are also officially a 501(c)3 status company so we actually are not-for-profit, meaning we can accept tax write-off-able donations and such.

Thanks for looking.

The organizations website can be found at City3.org.

Should I bring someone on as a business partner?

subpixel — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:51:31 -0800

Should I bring someone on as a business partner? I run a small (4-person) company of which I am the sole proprietor. It's a web business, so a very large chunk of our expenses involve paying outside tech vendors/developers on a project-by-project basis.

What I'd like to do is get a developer to have a vested interest in keeping our technology agile and effective. An in-house hacker. A retainer may be a way to start, but I think that ultimately, we're going to need someone with a bigger stake in what we're doing. And that stake can't just be salary, b/c a lot of our future profits are contingent upon technological developments that have yet to happen.

I've found a great candidate, but I'm at a loss when it comes to how such a deal might be structured. What would a partnership entail, actually? When should I make such an overture?

How do you acquire a business line of credit using equity in a commercial property as collateral?

yorja — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:02:57 -0800

I have recently acquired a commercial property. I want to obtain a line of credit against the down payment I put on the property. Obviously, I have not done this in the past. But, I envision the transaction being similar to a home equity line of credit. Is there anyone out there that can point me to the right direction. FYI, the commercial property was acquired via a new LLC of which I own 100%.

Earning income from stocks

daksya — Mon, 09 May 2005 19:44:16 -0800

How do shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway earn income? It seems that dividends haven't been issued since 1967. Short of selling the stock, isn't the investment "tied up"? On a broader note, how does one earn money from stocks?

I can think of 2 ways:

1)Dividends.
2)Sell it off for a profit.

..and maybe, earn interest off it (if so, how?).

Franchise experience

striker — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 08:17:54 -0800

Franchise-owning MeFites: How did you get started? How did you pick the franchise? How much capital did you have? Most importantly: Would you do it again? I am getting more and more interested in looking at a turn-key operation to get an introduction into the world of running a business. The wealth of information that's out there is vastly diluted by the "$1 mil in 2 days while at home in your bath room" spam artists. I would like to know if any MeFites out there have done this, and about their experience.

Why Will Dividend Make Microsoft Stock Price Fall By Dividend Amount?

pwb503 — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:14:09 -0800

According to numerous reports I've read in the last few days worth of the Business Section of the newspaper, Microsoft's "stock price can be expected to fall by the amount of the dividend." That's the one-time $3 dividend that is coming sometime soon for those of you who don't follow this sort of thing. Anyway... I don't get it? Why is the stock price expceted to drop about $3 the day after this dividend? I like to think of myself as knowledgeble about the markets, and I understand that this dividend will remove $3 per share out of the bank for M$, but aren't stock prices valued more in terms of the value of the company and its holdings rather than simply the value of the money in the bank?

Suggestions for keeping track of business expenses?

agregoli — Wed, 30 Jun 2004 08:18:00 -0800

Suggestions for keeping track of business expenses? I'm starting a business and I'm terrible at math. I would prefer something that's like a spreadsheet kind of, something I could plug numbers into and have the program lay it out nice and easy for me. I'm not very experienced in Excel - is there anything easier (and preferably free/cheap) out there for me?

Anyone know a good general reference page for corporate scandals?

rorycberger — Tue, 09 Mar 2004 04:10:22 -0800

Anyone know a good general reference page for corporate scandals? [more inside] I am looking for general summaries, i.e. the key players involved, what crimes they were charged with/convicted of, what it has meant for the company, etc. I am essentially looking for a list of things to search google for as I look for more detailed information. I am specifically looking for info on the following companies: adelphia, arthur anderson, enron, global crossings, healthsource, imclone, solomon smith barney, tyco and worldcom.