A PC is a corporation composed of specific types of professionals, set up according to state law. After forming the PC, the corporation can be qualified by the IRS to have PSC tax status. This article explains how PCs and PSCs work for owners and their businesses. What Is a Professional Corporation? Professional corporations (PCs) are groups of professionals who register with their state as this type of business entity....

Some don’t believe that any of their family members or friends is capable of serving, or their children are still minors and legally can’t serve. In these situations, a corporate fiduciary may be the best choice. What Is a Corporate Fiduciary With any estate, a fiduciary may find themselves responsible for investing and managing assets, paying bills, record-keeping, and making distributions to beneficiaries. A corporate fiduciary will administer your estate or trust with a high standard of care....

The report shows that state programs requiring payday lenders to offer the extended payment plans aren’t working as intended, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of the 26 states that permit payday loans—typically, loans of $350 or less that have to be paid back with a single payment on the borrower’s next payday—16 of them have laws requiring payday lenders to offer no-cost extended payment plans that let borrowers repay their loans in installments at low rates, the report said....

Well, no. Here are seven reasons why you should still bother to get business cards printed for your small business and hand them out. Ease and Simplicity You could email the information to them, but that necessitates getting a person’s email address and inputting the information. How is that faster than just handing someone a business card? It’s true that some digital devices make it fairly easy to transfer info between them, but this typically only works between compatible devices....

On the other hand, if you don’t feel that you can honestly strongly endorse this person for the position, or if your company has a policy that prohibits providing references, you should politely turn down their request for a reference. It is better not to write a recommendation at all than to write one expressing anything less than full confidence in the employee. How To Write a Recommendation for an Employee Get the specifics....

Keep reading to learn the basics of what a registered agent does and some factors to consider as you search for an agent for your business. What Is a Registered Agent? Except for self-employed individuals, all businesses must register as legal entities, such as LLCs, partnerships, or corporations. As a part of that process, your business will likely need a registered agent. Your registered agent is essentially your business’s point-of-contact for all legal correspondence....

Kiyoshi Hijiki/Getty Images The two programs—renewed in legislation signed Dec. 27—expired a day earlier, setting in motion delays that have lasted weeks or are still unresolved in some cases. For example, in Arkansas, payments might not be released for at least one of the reinstated programs until mid-February; Colorado says it has yet to process any claims this year; and Michigan only started resuming payments on Jan. 19 to some recipients after the year-end interruption....

Why Is Resource Planning Important Resource planning help you account for resources you have, plan for resources you need and ways to optimize their use. Among other things, even the most simple business plans are designed to walk you through the activity of describing every source and the exact dollar amount of your initial equity capital, as well as account for the equipment necessary to produce your products or services. It can be difficult to accurately estimate your future resource needs, which is why this startup mistake is one of the most frequent contributors to young businesses running out of cash early on....

Here’s how much you can put into popular retirement accounts this year. 401(k) Contribution Limits Perhaps the most popular​ retirement account is the 401(k) plan. Many employers that offer these work-sponsored plans will match a certain percentage of employee contributions. For example, an employer that matches up to 4% of contributions effectively allows an employee to save 8% of every paycheck for half of the out-of-pocket cost. Money is usually contributed to a 401(k) plan before taxes are deducted from your paycheck, so you’ll pay taxes years down the road when you withdraw that money....

The record low interest rates of last winter—the average 30-year mortgage rate hit an all-time low of 2.85% in December, by the association’s measure—fueled a frenzy of real estate purchases as well as refinancing activity, but the appeal of refinancing is much more vulnerable to higher rates, said Richard LaNasa, president of Angel Oak Home Loans, an Atlanta-based lender. While refinancing started to drop off as soon as rates crossed 3%, prospective homebuyers aren’t likely to be deterred by the uptick, he said....

The IRS will collect those deferred taxes at the time you convert funds from a pretax retirement account to a Roth IRA. How much you’ll have to pay depends on your marginal tax rate and some other factors. How Much Tax Will You Pay on a Roth Conversion? You must report any untaxed money you convert from a pretax retirement account as income in the tax year you withdraw it for conversion....

This rule of thumb for rent dictates spending no more than 30% of your income on housing each month. The reasoning behind it is that by capping your rent payment at 30% of your monthly income, you’ll still have plenty of money left to cover other living expenses and to work toward your financial goals. But how does that translate to dollar amounts spent on rent? Here’s more on how the 30% rule of thumb for rent works and how to apply it to your budget....

Employees leave for various reasons: to make more money, go back to school, to move on to different employment opportunities, to travel, to raise a family, because of health issues, or for any one of a number of other reasons. Having an established policy in place to communicate with employees who are leaving the company will help you to handle an employee’s departure in a positive and respectful manner. It will also provide documentation of the employee’s resignation....

The dwindling saving rate underlines just how much inflation running near a 40-year high has forced people into tough choices when it comes to expenses. With everything from food and gas to weddings and trips to the dollar store costing more, setting money aside is harder and harder. That’s especially true for those on the lower end of the income spectrum, and people are now tapping into whatever they stockpiled earlier in the pandemic, when the government was giving out stimulus checks....

The New York Federal Reserve’s new Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, launched this week, shows that supply chain delays got worse in April after having dropped considerably from the peak they reached in December 2021. The chart below shows just how quickly supply chain problems have taken a turn for the worse. The index, which uses data going back to 1997, aims to provide a monthly look at just how intense disruptions in manufacturing, shipping, and other elements of the supply chain have become....

How to Choose the Best References You probably know many people who would be willing to act as a reference for you, and it’s a good idea to give some thought as to who will be the best at endorsing you for the position for which you’re applying. It’s also important to have a list of references who will respond to reference requests in a responsive and timely manner. Professional and employment references are a good choice, mainly because they have seen you in a corporate or work environment....

mediaphotos / Getty Images Shareholders profit when a company does well and lose money when a company does poorly. Learn more about how this process works, as well as other responsibilities stockholders have. What Is a Shareholder or a Stockholder? Shareholders and stockholders are the same things. Both words describe someone who owns shares of stock in a business. For the purposes of this article, we’ll use the term “shareholders....

Before deciding whether or not to get a life insurance policy through your work, think about the pros and cons. Also, think about what type of coverage would meet your needs. The Pros and Cons of Buying Life Insurance Through Your Job A major benefit of getting life insurance through your job is how easy it is. For instance, you may know you need to get life insurance; maybe you simply haven’t gotten around to it yet....

Hedged High-Yield Bond ETFs: The Basics These ETFs seek to provide people who invest with the good yields of high-yield bonds but without the element of interest rate risk that can come along with bond investing. The funds do this by complementing their high-yield portfolios with a short position in U.S. Treasuries. A short position is an investment that rises in value when the price of a security declines. Since bond prices fall when yields rise, a short position in bonds would gain in value when yields are rising....

Maskot For the third month in a row, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index had the biggest year-over-year increase on record, rising 18.6% in the 12 months through June. As the chart below shows, the monthly reading, which has tracked prices of single-family homes across the country since 1987, has never had such steep gains. While more recent data suggests a bit of calm has returned to the market, the index highlights how rapidly home prices have been increasing lately as buyers, whose purchasing power has been bolstered by low interest rates, have fiercely competed for the few homes for sale on the market....