Posted on

Do You Know Where These Documents Are?

I have been serving as Executor of my father’s estate for the past few months.  In doing this, I have repeatedly been struck by how a seemingly organized man could be so haphazard with paperwork.  I have spent hours digging through shoeboxes full of crumpled papers, trying to locate a single document.  In doing this, I have made a vow that 2013 will be the year I get my paperwork in order.  This list is for EVERYONE, even if, and especially if, you aren’t a millionaire.  Knowing where these documents are can make life easier for you and your loved ones in the future.

  1. Will
  2. Housing, Land and Cemetery Deeds (and any mortgage information associated with these properties).
  3. Proof of Loans made and debts owed
  4. Vehicle titles
  5. Stock certificates, savings bonds, and brokerage accounts
  6. Partnership and corporate operating agreements
  7. Tax returns
  8. List of Bank accounts and safe deposit boxes
  9. List of all user names and passwords (where is/who has information)
  10. Durable health-care proxy or a power of attorney
  11. Authorization to release health care information
  12. Living Will
  13. Do-not-resuscitate order
  14. Life Insurance Policies
  15. Pension, Retirement and 401(k) accounts
  16. Marriage license and/or divorce papers
Posted on

Starting a Business on the Side – Protect Yourself!

This is the last installment of a four-part series on how to navigate taking on a side job or starting a business in addition to your regular employment.  If you missed the earlier parts, click here to read them from the beginning!

In all four of these posts I discussed various ways to protect yourself and your side business from potential hazards.  If you have considered these factors and decided to move forward with your new venture, there are a few last tasks you should take care of to cover all of your bases.

First, set up a company.  Even if you are contracting, and not creating an entirely new venture, you should separate your contracting business from your full-time job.  You can do this by forming an LLC, a corporation, or establishing your self as a sole proprietor.   There are low-cost ways to do this and taking this step can prevent major headaches in the future.

Either way you want to make sure that the money you receive from your new gig is kept separate from your full-time salary.  This will make life easier for your accountant later and allow you to write off expenditures for your side business.  You can do this easily by opening up a separate bank account for the new venture.  A separate bank account will keep you from mingling the funds until Uncle Sam gets his piece.

Keep in mind that a few simple steps early on can protect you from a host of hassles down the line.  It is always better to be over-protected when it comes to your money and your business.

Posted on

Starting a Business on the Side – Be Careful What You Work On!

This is the third installment of a four-part series on how to navigate taking on a side job or starting a business in addition to your regular employment.  If you missed the first or second parts, click here and read them!

Yet another thing you want to be aware of is whether or not your current gig could see your side business as competition.

This does not have to be direct competition, like McDonald’s and Burger King.  Your employer could see anything in the same field or line of work (basically any kind of food making or selling from fine dining to packaged granola bars could be seen as competition for McDonald’s).

Once again, if you have an employment contract, you want to pay attention to the clauses on working for competition in it.  Many contracts restrict employees in working for direct competition both during employment and for some time after the employee leaves the company.

If you think your side business could be seen as competition, you should tread carefully.  Consider negotiating with your employer and getting an agreement set in writing about the nature of your business and what your employer is comfortable with you pursuing.

If you don’t feel comfortable approaching your employer or you want to keep the project entirely secret, know that you are taking a risk that down the line your employer may fire you for your behavior or demand some ownership in your side business.

When in doubt, you should get a second opinion before investing significant time or money into a side business to ensure that you won’t have to reimburse your employer for your hard work.

Posted on

Starting a Business on the Side – When to Work?

This is the second installment of a four part series on how to navigate taking on a side job or starting a business in addition to your regular employment.  If you missed the first part, click here and check it out!

Once you have checked your contract for your employer’s restrictions on outside employment and decided whether or not to tell your employer, you need to consider when you plan on doing the bulk of the work.

When will you work on your side project?

If you currently have a job with chunks of downtime or you are salaried and don’t punch a clock, and you are hoping to freelance or start your own company during this time, you may want to consider your plan more carefully.

If you do the work while salaried or “on the clock” you employer might have an argument that anything you actually produce belongs to him.  This generally only becomes a problem when you least want it to, after your project has become successful.

For example, in the web development world, a developer who works for a fashion company might use her down time to write an amazing program that helps college kids sell their used books online.  This program appears to have nothing to do with fashion but if the program becomes successful the fashion company could want to use an element of the program to help people sell used dresses.  The fashion company could claim the developer created the program while working for them and thus they should be allowed to either a) use the program at no cost or b) be entitled to any profits the developer got from selling the program.  This is last thing you want when you have worked hard to create a successful business.

To avoid these issues entirely, you want to plan to avoid working during business hours and document this in case your employer ever asks.  If you have concerns that the business you want to create might not abide by these rules, you should consider trying to negotiate with your employer so the parameters of what will belong to you and what will belong to the employer is well-defined before you begin your side business.

As you start your side business, remember to pay attention to when you are working on your project and when you are working on your employer’s project.  If any entrepreneurs have a great time keeping system, I would love to hear about it!

Posted on

Starting a Business on the Side – Do Tell?

This economy has a lot of people thinking about starting a side business.  Starting a new company, freelancing, and contracting are all great ways to bring in some extra money while reducing your costs.  If you do it the right way you can see if the new business idea is really going to work while maintaining stability at your current gig.

Over the next four weeks I will talk about the various things you need to consider before launching a start-up side business or taking on a second job.

First: To Share or Not to Share

One of the first things you will need to decide is whether or not you are going to tell your employer about what you are doing.  If you decide to go the stealth route keep in mind that you probably want to keep it mum from the entire office.  Co-workers tend to talk and word will probably get back to your boss at some point unless you tell absolutely no one.

Remember to Check your Contract!

Before deciding to ‘fess up, you should also take a look at your employment contract (if you have one).  Many employment contracts limit an employee’s ability to get a second job.  Sometimes contracts require employees to jump through hoops like such as getting the employer’s written permission before taking on any other employment.  If you don’t follow the rules you expose yourself to being fired for cause.

If your contract seems limiting but you are still interested in working at a second gig and your contract discourages this you can always approach your employer and negotiate with him or her.

Once you know where you stand and how up front you are going to be, you are ready to consider the type of work you will be doing and how that work product may affect your employer.  Stay tuned for next week’s post on this issue and how to navigate it.