Are you thinking about retiring soon? Are you financially prepared? If you are a small business owner or self-employed, are you selling your business? There are many questions that as a small business owner or self employed you have to answer before you want to retire. If you are prepared financially, are you prepared to hand the business over to a family member or business partner? If that is something you haven’t thought about, talking to a small business consultant to help you with the succession of your business may be a good idea, especially if you are thinking about staying involved in the business.
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Making retirement plans for a small business
Q. I have a small business and I’m finally ready to start a retirement plan. I’m the only employee. What’s the difference between a 401(k) and SEP-IRA?
— Small biz
A. It’s great to hear you’re ready for a retirement plan.
You do have several choices, and the best plan for you depends on how many employees you have, how much money you’re able to save each year and how much the plan will cost to administer.
First, let’s talk about the benefits of 401(k) plans and SEP-IRAs.
Contributions to both of these retirement plans are tax deductible by the business and neither has a minimum amount that you must contribute each year, said Laurie Wolfe, a certified public accountant with Lassus Wherley in New Providence.
“Both of these plans offer flexibility with regards to timing of contributions, which makes sense for a business with profits that tend to fluctuate from year to year,” Wolfe said. “Both plans need to be set up by Dec. 31 of the year you wish to make contributions, but deposits can be made all the way up to the filing deadline of the tax return — including extensions.”
Can chambers of commerce stay relevant for small business?
For years, chambers of commerce have proven valuable for small businesses across the nation. But unless they keep up with social media and other technologies, chambers will struggle to stay relevant.
For years, chambers of commerce have proven valuable for small businesses across the nation. They act as a collective lobbying voice for businesses, while enabling small business communities to seek and share advice, join events and network with peers.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was founded more than one hundred years ago, long before the Internet and social networks changed the face of small business.
Today, one might question the necessity of the chambers, especially those that have not stayed relevant by adequately using the Internet or available social technologies.
YouTube Appeals to Small Businesses. Will They Spend Money With Alphabet Inc.?
A Homer Simpson video targets local advertisers. The market is huge, and big digital players such as Alphabet and Facebook are eyeing an increasingly bigger share.
YouTube, part of the Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) empire, rolled out a video last month starring the Simpsons characters that targets small businesses as advertisers on the popular Web video platform. The move highlights what’s soon to become a major battlefield for the big online players such as Google and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)and the ad tech they’ve been developing.
The video, which plays off Homer’s famous scheme to start a snowplowing business, shows the character trying to get his “Mr. Plow” business off the ground by tucking promotional leaflets beneath car wipers, only to see them all blown away by gusting winter winds.
