By Stephen Kyne, CFP
Life insurance can be an important part of your financial plan, but do you know what kind of insurance is right for your needs? Insurance comes in many forms, and many people have the wrong type of insurance, and aren’t insuring their need in an efficient way. That means they may be needlessly overspending.
Brian M. Johnson, MBA, CLTC
Are you a business owner or manager in a business? Yes? Then ask yourself: If you, a key manager or top sales person retired, became disabled or died yesterday, who would own or manage your business today? Would you want your business interest sold, liquated or retained by a family member or other key employee?
Do you have a partner in your business? Could the business continue without him/her? Would you want to be in business with your now deceased partner’s spouse?
These are critical issues to address sooner than later. Unlike corporations with hundreds or thousands of employees, with layers of management, small business owners and key employees often play a paramount role in the day-to-day success of that business. As a business owner, you probably know what it’s like to be responsible for budgeting and hiring, while also running out to shovel the sidewalk in front of your office or store. In many cases, YOU are that business.
Lets look at three objectives, with corresponding questions, you might consider in developing a continuation plan.
Objective: Retain the business interest for family.
By Rob Shauger
When it comes to hard drive destruction there are a lot of questions and misinformation out there. This misinformation leaves a lot of personal data vulnerable.
In fact, a recent data recovery study showed that even after attempts to wipe drives, data could still be recovered. The study purchased 200 used hard drives on eBay and Craigslist and found that 67 percent of those drives still held personally identifiable information. Some 11 percent of those drives contained sensitive corporate data.
By Megan Collelo
When Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the New York State Budget Bill on April 12, he enacted more than requirements for the state’s spending for the fiscal year.
Additionally, the bill enacted new requirements for all New York employers to combat sexual harassment. Here are five takeaways to help local business owners make dollars and cents out of the new requirements:
By John Frega, esq.
Every construction project features unique and interesting challenges. But drafting your construction contract documents should not be one of those challenges.
Here are five important matters to consider when drafting and managing your construction contracts:
1. Determine the appropriate payment model.
Owners have multiple options for structuring payments to their contractors, and choosing the appropriate payment model largely depends on the type of project. The most common models include lump sum, unit price, and time and material, not to exceed (T&M NTE).
By Stephen Kyne
We’ve just closed the books on the second quarter, and what a ride it’s been. Let’s take look back at the first half of 2018, and what we think lies ahead for the economy as we begin the third quarter.
The economy continues to grow at a faster than expected pace, having been revised up from initial first quarter estimates, and we expect good news when initial Q2 reports are issued in a few weeks. Many economists estimate that second quarter growth could exceed a 5 percent annualized rate, which would mark an impressive improvement over the slow growth we’ve experienced for most of this bull market.
Corporate earnings continue to exceed expectations, and guidance so far seems to indicate this rate of growth will only accelerate as we continue through the year. The first major company to report Q2 earnings will be Alcoa (AA), on July 18, and then we’re off to the races!
By Jim Lapointe
Did you know that starting in July, with the release of Google Chrome 68, Google will be marking all websites that connect via HTTP as insecure ?
Google is pushing companies to create secure connections to their websites by using HTTPS.
HTTPS differs from HTTP in that it uses encryption to create a secure connection from the user to the website rather than a clear text connection that a traditional HTTP connection would create. Many of you are likely familiar with HTTPS from going to banking sites or retail sites that want to protect the communication from the customer to the website.
By Michael Cruz
Good news. The economy is doing well. Bad news. That will shrink the labor market. Often, I write about hiring and its associated pains. There is one way you can reduce that pain. It is investing in the people you already have.
We already know that it costs less to keep our customers than it does to acquire new ones. The same is true about the people that work for you. Hiring is difficult, it is expensive, and it is not a 100 percent solution.
Many years ago, I worked for a very fast-growing software company. When I joined it, the company’s sales were $18 million. When I left 7 years later, sales topped $450 million.
By Sarah Lewis Belcher, Esq.
Property owners have a number of options for structuring a construction project: general contractor, construction manager or design/build. There are differences among the three that are important to understand when deciding which structure best fits.
A general contractor (GC) enters into contracts with and coordinates the work of subcontractors to complete the project. General contractors are not involved in the design of the project and instead become part of the process once the plans and specifications have been completed.
General contractors are often selected by competitive bidding, so are incentivized to keep the bid price low to be more competitive. Once the project is awarded, the GC will endeavor to keep the cost within budget, particularly since the GC will retain any unexpended amounts up to the contract price as profit.
By Tammy J. Arquette, Esq.
According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 40 to 50 percent of married couples in United States obtain a divorce. The divorce rate is even higher for subsequent marriages.
A divorce proceeding can have a significant impact on the financial and emotional well-being of the parties and their children, but if one or both of the parties are also a business owner, the business can be significantly impacted. The significant impact on the business can include financial disruption, discord amongst partners and employees, imposition of third party experts to review books and records and value the business, and the potential requirement for the sale of the business.
The Domestic Relations Law provides that assets that are acquired during the marriage, including businesses, be valued and equitably distributed. Further, marital asset may also include the appreciation in value of an otherwise separate business interest.