Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with profitsharing

Flexibility on Open Enrollment Dates for a 401(k) Plan

Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:13:25 -0800

401(k) Question: I've been offered a job where new employees are eligible to enroll in what the company calls its "401(k)/Profit Sharing plan" after a year on the job. The firm has open enrollment for the plan twice a year - Jan. 1 & July 1. They've asked me to start working in the middle of next month, which means I wouldn't be eligible to participate in the plan until Jan. 1, 2011 - just under 1.5 years away. Is it worth asking if they can grant me slightly early eligibility for the July 1, 2010 enrollment date? If you have any experience with these sorts of plans, do you know if companies typically retain any flexibility in terms of enrollment eligibility? Or is this kind of thing usually set in stone in company policies or bylaws? Obviously, I'm only going to miss the July 1, 2010 enrollment date by a couple of weeks. While I can ask my liaison at the company about this, I'd like to know if my request has any hope at all before I consider doing so.

In case it helps, this is a small (~20 attorney) law firm, with its main offices in NY and NJ. I don't know where the firm is incorporated, or what structure (LLC, LLP, etc.) it is. This issue is by no means a dealbreaker (or anything remotely close) - I just want to understand it better before taking any action.

How should i split iphone development profit?

Merik — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:35:37 -0800

I've made the plunge into iphone development. Ive started working on ideas with a friend who is a talented graphic designer. My question is: how should I split profits from the applications with him? I need some advice.

My background: I'm a good programmer and I've bought a mac mini, an iphone, and I'm learning objective-c and xcode.
Graphic Designers background: Good designer, a friend, has owned an iphone since first gen, knows the culture.

We both have alot of good ideas.

He was thinking a 50/50 split but as I'm beginning to see that the applications will require alot of development time compared to design work. I don't think that is fair,especially since im investing alot of time learning the new platform/language. I dont want to ruin the energy we have going, but i also don't want to be taken advantage of.

Can anyone give some suggestions on how we should divide the profit/earnings from the applications?

Any suggestions, advice, or help is appreciated.

I know we need income distribution rules in writing. What does the writing say?

andifsohow — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:32:25 -0800

How to divide up a company amongst 3 people when 2 people will be doing most of the work for the first 6-12 months. A small consulting firm, built from scratch. We've had almost no expenses thus far and are about to land our first client. Everyone is fine with 1/3 ownership and we all want all 3 on board, but partner C will be able to do considerably less work over the next year or so due to a full-time gig he's committed to during that time.

I know we solve part of this by how we distribute income - i.e., we track hours put into project and pay out accordingly. Problem is, we also want to invest as much into the company as possible, because expenses are on the near horizon. So if we land a 10,000 project and the work is divided 45-45-10 amongst A, B, & C, but A & B want to invest 2000 of their respective 4500 into the company, how are the 1/3 splits best maintained? Is it customary for C to match that contribution out of pocket, for example, or do we need to break it down to represent contributions more accurately?

How can we make more money and stay happy?

Post-it Goat — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:54:29 -0800

Interesting profit-sharing schemes or payment incentives for programmers? What can my boss give me to make me work more efficiently? I'm a programmer at a small company that can't really afford to pay as much as, say, intel. So far we've been kept happy with perks like free meals, a nintendo wii, flexible hours and almost complete creative freedom. In fact, we're almost entirely self-managed.

So for the employees, the downside is that we could sell out, work in a cube farm and maybe retire 10 years earlier. For the employer, I think he feels like we could be working more efficiently - for instance, since I get paid the same amount either way, I'm less likely to do grunt stuff that makes the company more money and more likely to work on something creative and stimulating.

As a solution, we've been thinking about some kind of profit sharing that would incentivise us programmers to work more efficiently towards making the company more successful instead of stumbling vaguely in that direction, as well as giving us a reason to stay with the company long-term. The trouble is that most of us work on projects that are extremely vital but aren't directly related to the amount of money we make - or at least it's very hard to measure the financial impact they have - so it's hard to see who gets what percentage of profits, etc. Any thoughts? Thanks!

What should I charge for web design work?

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:33:49 -0800

I am in Wisconsin and forming an agreement with a company interested in oursourcing some web design. I'd like to charge a flat fee per project. What is a fair percentage of the profit they make for me to ask for? 40%?