vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"A real estate business could offset income from occupied property with costs from vacant property held for speculation.  For speculation, you can let a building rot, then get it reassessed.  If the jurisdiction assesses part or all of the tax bill on the value of improvements, this can drop the annual tax bill significantly while you hold.  If you plan to hold for a decade or more, this can be very important.  Strategically, this also ruins the neighborhood property values, so you can assemble neighboring parcels to support future major developments.   This is a long speculation game.  Exemplars of the strategy include Richard Basciano who bought up several buildings in NYC's Times Square and installed adult theater tenants in the 70s, for payoff today; and the late Sam Rappaport who pursued a strategy of squeezing rent and simply ignoring building inspection violations in Philadelphia, assembling major urban core parcels on the cheap, and whose children are now selling into strong markets.   Legality: Adult businesses are kind of a grey market covered by specific local ordinances, neither exactly illegal or perfectly legal.  Ignoring building violations is not legal, but the penalties are fines, not jail.  It's certainly not a ""nice"" strategy.   Richard Basciano: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/porn-king-richard-basciano-survived-rudy-giuliani-plans-risk-article-1.319185 Sam Rappaport: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2002/08/05/focus13.html?page=all"
Thank you for the pointers! Did you find it necessary to hire an attorney to set up your llc? Have you found any real down-sides with the llc option? It seems to be great in most circumstances from what I'm reading/hearing, there must be some negatives.
There are several local currency initiatives in the US list here.  Most are attempts to normalize a value as a living wage, or encourage local consumption networks.  If you are in the catchment region of one of these, see if you can get a grant or loan to get started (if you are willing to buy into the philosophy of the group such as a $10 minimum wage) m
"I've worked in gyms for 9 years. Here's a few things I've seen: 1)Contracts aren't necessarily a terrible thing if you know that you are going to stay for a while, just know the terms you're signing up for.  2)Be aggressive and relentless with the membership salesman, don't be afraid to put your own price out there and if you don't get it walk away. Don't want the super high sign-up fee, say you wont join unless that is gone or lower. (often these sign-up fees are commissions for the salesman, one time i had a guy slip me a $100 under the table to drop the sign-up fee and monthly rate saving him at least $500 a year) 3)Pick newer gyms because they will be more in a need of new memberships thus giving in to lower prices.  4)If you don't want to sign a contract just say so, you'd be amazed how often someone gets out of signing a contract just because they asked and threatened not to join because of it.  5)Be aware of annual fees, a trend in the industry now is to have a super low membership dues but charge the member an annual ""gym improvement"" or ""rate guarantee fee"". 6)Join with a buddy, ask for a buddy discount if you sign-up at the same time. 7)Finally consider why you are joining a gym, I've seen it so often that someone joins a gym and then gets frustrated because they never use it because they weren't getting the results you wanted. Maybe your better off spending a little more and going to a private personal training studio or a group exercise studio. Independent bootcamps are a hot now.  Ultimately it's about you getting what you want out of it, so do what is going to give you the best chance to get the results you want."
Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Lottery Tickets notes the work of Fama and French who researched the idea of a small-cap premium along with a value premium that may be useful to note in terms of what has outperformed if one looks from 1926 to present. Slice and dice would also be another article about an approach that over weights the small-cap and value sides of things if you want another resource here.
The price the provider charges you is the amount he would like to get for his services. Let's take an example, you do a blood test at a lab, and they charge you 1200.00$ If you have insurance, and the provider has a contract with that insurance (meaning 'they take them'), the contract limits what they can charge and what the will get. For the example, that might be 21.56$. This is what the insurance pays them (or what you pay them, if you have deductible). Note that if you have no insurance, you owe them 1200.00$. They are typically willing to negotiate that you only pay maybe 850.00$, but it still will be much higher than the insurance price. Why? The reason is that the insurance-agreed payment of 21.56$ does not cover their cost (but the insurance forces them to make that contract or basically be out of business). Let's say for example they need 26.56$ to make a living on it; so they lose 5.00$ on every insured customer. One in 235 customers has no insurance, and his price is calculated as 26.56+235*5.00 = ~1200.00$, so his bill covers the losses for all insured 'under-payers' (all numbers are examples made up to illustrate the math the provider does). My bloodwork typically comes between 800 and 1400, and gets reduced to around 20: so the numbers are not completely off. The ratio and concept works for doctors and hospitals the same, just not as significant a difference.
And if the managers are fed up too (like 45 minutes after close), they'll accept too. I saw this happen multiple times in a high pressure scenario. I also used it once myself as a buyer. If you are planning to purchase options that can be added at the dealer rather than from the factory, keep them up your sleeve at first. Get your negotiations down to where you are a little further apart than the invoice price of the option, then make your move. For example, suppose the option you want retails for $350 with an invoice of $300. Get within about $400 of the dealer. Then offer to pay their price, but only if they throw in the option you want. This will throw them completely off guard because they didn't expect it and all of their calculations were based on without it. If they say yes, you effectively moved $100 and they moved $300. It's much more likely that they'll agree to this than taking $300 off the price of the car. (I'm guessing the reason for this is partially due to how their accounting works with sticker price vs aftermarket price, and partially psychological.) Note, this works best with new cars, and make sure you only do this if it's for items they can add after the fact. Even if they don't have the part in stock it's ok, they can give you an IOU. But if the option requires a car change to something they don't have on the lot, it will probably just make them mad."
Doesn't work as it would be inflationary.  Businesses would raise prices knowing they could get more revenue. This cycles throughout the supply chains which in turn cause prices of other products to increase etc.  And why on earth you wouldn't means test something like this beyond me.
non-conventional tip. reach out to another firm's risk manager and offer to buy them lunch in exchange for general tips. maybe even give them a call and introduce yourself. I did this when i landed myself in alternative investments - came from mutual funds world which is highly automated to ai world which has a lot of room for growth.
"Often, if your realtor and the selling realtor know each other, your realtor will ""discover"" what price the seller really wants. (Don't worry about how this is done. There will be no evidence it occurred!) Your realtor will then drop hints that you should aim for that price to ensure the deal goes smoothly. That sounds like what your realtor is doing when he says ""If you want to play ball offer them $80k."" He won't stop you from bidding lower, but he knows where you'll end up.  Price is just one part of the transaction, however. You can offer $80K, to meet their price, but also request that the seller make recommended repairs or credit you the cost. You can request that the seller cover closing costs or transfer taxes or any other costs. In short, offering the seller X doesn't mean you will pay X. I personally try to avoid credits, because although they make your effective price lower, the actual purchase price still drives things such as your loan, and in many places, your property taxes and other taxes. I would rather reduce the price than get credits. But you do what you have to do if you want the deal. You can also request that certain appliances be included, such as a refrigerator or a washing machine and dryer. You can ask for furniture, or statues in the backyard, or anything else you liked when you saw the house. In short, you offer X for the house, but you also get a bunch of other stuff that you need or want."
In older days the merchants and their merchant banks[or service providers] would take funds in their currency. Say in this case USD. When the charge hits the issuer bank, the merchant and merchant bank gets there USD and were happy. The user would get charged in local currency Shekel in this case. The rate applied by his bank [and card provider, Visa/Master also take a cut] is the standard shelf rate to individuals.   When business growing and banking becoming more sophisticated, lots of Merchant Banks and Merchants have created a new business, if you offer Shekel to all users then you have lots of Shekel that you can convert into USD. So in this model, the Merchant makes some more profit from Fx spread, the Merchant Bank makes good money in Fx. Your Bank [and card network] loose out. You stand to gain because you potentially get a better rate. All this theory is good. But the rates are moving and its quite difficult to find out if the rates offered directly by EI AI would be better than those offered by your bank. I have no experience in this example, but I have tried this with large shops, buy 2 items one charge in GBP and other in local currency around 2-3 times spread over a year. The difference in rate was close to identical, at times better or worse in range of .02%
You can ask the client to pay you through the LLC. In that case you should invoice them from the LLC and have them pay the invoice. If they pay you personally, you can always make a capital contribution to the LLC and use that money to buy equipment. The tax implications for a single person LLC providing professional services are the same for you either way: income is income whether it's from your LLC or an employer. It's different for the employer if they are giving you a W2 vs a 1099. So it doesn't matter much for you. If the LLC is buying equipment, make sure you get enough revenue through the LLC to at least offset those expenses.
Make sure you shop around and ask a lot of places for a good faith estimate.  Last I knew, the good faith document is the same everywhere and long form that makes it easy enough to compare the hard numbers from place to place.  I have gotten several estimates for various scenarios and I have had them hand written and printed.  (I discounted the hand written ones because that broker seemed pretty disorganized in general) Learn the terms online, and start comparing.  Use the good faiths as a negotiation tool to get lower rates or lower costs from other brokers.  See how accurate the person is at listening to you and filling out the paperwork.  See how responsive they are to you when you call with questions and want some changes. Check with at least four places. The more places you shop, the better idea you will have of what fees are high and what interest rates are low.  I might pay a higher fee to get a lower interest rate, so there are lots of trade offs to consider.
"The first rule I follow is pretty simple: Get paid for what you do. Earn a return on what you own. If you are running your company prudently, you should earn a salary for the position and responsibilities you hold within the business. This salary should be competitive. You should be able to replace yourself in the business at this salary. If your title is ""President"" or ""CEO"" - look for market rate salaries for others in that position within your industry and company size. If you wear multiple hats in a small business, you will likely have to blend this salary based on those various positions. Based on how you run your business, the money left over at the end of the year after you and your team takes a competitive wage is your profit. If there isn't any profit, then you might want to do some work on your business model. But if their is a profit, then it's a clear return on what you own and not just a payment for work completed. The idea would be that you could exit the business as an operator, pay someone else to do exactly what you do, and you would continue to get that profit return at the end of the year. This is when a business acts like a true asset. Whether you take your money in salary or profit distributions (or dividends) depending on your structure, taxes are about the same. W2'd salaries get normal employee contributed taxes, but then of course the company matches these. It is identical if you take a guaranteed payment or distribution that gets hit with self employment taxes. Profits are also going to get hit with the same taxes. Follow ups: 1) A fair salary would be a competitive market wage for the position you hold within the business. What is left over would be considered true profits and not just fabricated profits by taking a lower than market wage to boost the appearance of profitability. 2) Shareholders requesting salary information would be covered in your Operating Agreement or Shareholder Agreement. This might be terms you set with your investors. Or you might simply set a term that you only need approval if a single salary exceeds a cap (like $250,000).
It may work with an individual selling things but not for a retailer.  Imagine the price of an iPhone increasing week on week and then stabilising. Again, this won't work for luxury/veblen goods.  How do we go about it? Focus groups, user surveys, test markets. Not second guessing the price. You will lose all customer loyalty, piss of the later buyers who paid more for it, you'll be seen as fickle and not trustworthy. One pricing, all people, all markets, all time.
Havoc P's answer is good (+1). Also don't forget the other aspects of business income: state filing fees, county/city filing fees, business licenses, etc.  Are there any taxes you have to collect from your customers? If you expect to make more this year, then you should make estimated quarterly tax payments.  The first one for 2011 is due around the same time as your federal income tax filing.
I sold my small restaurant beginning of the year, the fees are not double. Visa mastercard are usually 1.85% plus some extra costs depending on bank. My Amex cost 2.2%. Yes higher, but let's say you do 500k a year, it would be 10-20% of that would have the higher cost not all 100% of the tractions. In the grand scheme of things, it's a drop in the bucket every month. I live in a very touristy area and if I did not accept it, odds are I would lose that 10-20% of sales by not accepting. Some people only carry that card when they are on the beach, boating, riding bikes etc.  Only time I've seen double is from shitty banks or processors that gouge the pricing or make people sign 4 year contracts. Etc.
California is very aggressive about enforcing LLC franchise taxes.  The only correction I'd make to Kekito's answer is that the fee is $800 minimum or some percentage of the LLC's total business volume in the state.  What's killer about it is that the tax is dependent not on what your LLC's profit is, but what its revenues are!  Here's a good link explaining how the tax is calculated: California LLC Franchise Tax Rates Be very careful about making sure you comply with every dot in the California codes or else you really won't like what happens.  It's one of the reasons so many companies avoid locating operations in California if at all possible. I hope this helps. Good luck!
"As the saying goes... ""Failing to plan is planning to fail.""   If you want to be successful you must have a plan on how you are going to succeed.  Part of making that plan is understanding what the potential points of failure are and how you are going to handle them.  It is impossible to do this if you do not understand the business.  If you have to react to situations and make snap decisions your risks of making bad decisions increase.  This increases your chances of your business failing.   You also need to be able to tell when there are problems with your business.  If you do not understand the business, and have little experience with the business, then it will take you longer to recognize that there are problems.  The earlier you spot or prevent problems the easier, and less costly, it is to deal with them.   When it can work is when you go in as the silent partner with someone who does know the business.  If you watch the show ""Shark Tank"" you will notice the sharks invest in either business that they know and understand and can help guide the business through the pit falls, or in people they believe in because they just need the money not the partner.  None of them say heck neither of us know what I we are doing but lets take a shot together.  The reason is there are more fun ways to throw away money than investing your heart, soul, blood and sweat, into learning a business the hard way.   Most people who do learn and build a business with no prior experience actually start from nothing rather than buying a business that has already been built.  Of those that succeed big, they teamed up with someone who understood the business side, but they were the power behind the innovation.  And most of them got in when there was virtually no competition. Your question does not fit in here."
People with failed businesses also often put in crazy long hours and submit themselves to huge financial risk. That's what you have to do just to start a business. It doesn't predict success.  Why do businesses fail?  I can now mostly predict if a business will fail because lots of people have ridiculous ideas or absolutely no way to make money (99% of businesses at startup events will not be around in a year).  Luck doesn't predict the success of a business, but neither does hard work.  I started 3 businesses in the past 2 years and they are all making money.  I also put a ton of research into each one and carefully planned out a business strategy.    Many people starting businesses either don't have the ability to do this or just don't put the time into it because they are afraid that their awesome new idea won't be successful.
Small cap companies are just smaller, so the risk for them to fail is higher but the potential for higher returns is also higher.
"I'm sceptical of your position.   I reckon that people who put crazy long hours into a business that fails are lacking some intangible qualities of entrepreneurship.  There are people you can just tell, they don't have what it takes. They're putting in loads of commitment or loads of money into an idea that just isn't right. Or they spend money in the wrong ways - you know how all these internet companies spent money on champagne breakfasts and $1000 chairs during the dot-com bubble? I've seen the small-scale version of that, as people rent expensive offices when I'm thinking ""why aren't you just working from home?""   As a (small time) entrepreneur I'm obviously biased, but if you've got what it takes (so I think there is an element of ""predestination"" here) and you work hard then you *will* succeed, to some greater or lesser extent.  I mean, I know electricians and builders that have started their own contracting or supplies businesses - they're not rich by the standard of mutli-multimillionaires, but they have a bloody nice house and a bloody nice car in the driveway and they probably take an afternoon a week off to play golf. They're doing better than most of the other guys they worked with as electricians or builders 20 years ago, and I don't see that they're really doing anything too clever or sophisticated.   Also, the classic figure of 9/10 businesses failed - ""failed"" here is a very dramatic word, implying that the entrepreneur lost his or her shirt. Often it's not a case that the business lost them money - they pissed away thousands on rent or wages or misplaced marketing - but more that it made a bit of money, but not enough, so they moved on to something else. That something else might be regular employment for some people, but there are *plenty* of entrepreneurs - perhaps some of the greatest and most famous ones - who have gone on from one failure to a much bigger success."
Small companies are generally able to adapt quickly to take advantage of changing conditions to enter new markets when the economy is growing. This gives them a lot of growth potential under those circumstances. However, in times of crisis, there may not be a lot of new markets to enter, and financing to expand any operations may be impossible to get. Under these conditions, small-caps will suffer relative to large-caps.
The most successful ones are lead generation businesses that hire professionals. Getting clients can be difficult. Just because someone is an accountant/doctor/lawyer doesn't mean they can't hire employees. Marketing, leasing space, setting up a business, and management are skills that many professionals lack, and they will be looking for jobs.
&gt;There have been a number of studies that have looked at this issue. This chart, from Web site designer smallbusinessplanned.com, summarizes the results of three different studies. Basically, after four years, 50 percent of the businesses are open. As time goes on, the success rate decreases, but it never gets to a failure rate of “nine out of 10.” &gt;[...] &gt;Even this does not show the whole picture. As Brian Headd, an economist at the Small Business Administration, demonstrated in a 2002 study for Small Business Economics, **about one–third of closed business were actually successful when they “failed.”** &gt;“The significant proportion of businesses that closed while successful calls into question the use of ‘business closure’ as a meaningful measure of business outcome,” the study says. “It appears that **many owners may have executed a planned exit strategy,** closed a business without excess debt, sold a viable business, or retired from the work force.” Now that doesn't necessarily mean that Rand Paul's point is WRONG (he is chiefly talking about government investing in HIGHLY LEVERAGED, HIGH-RISK, HIGH-TECH businesses, which are a different story) -- but it does mean that the statistic he is citing (general business failure rate) is an urban-myth-falsehood, however commonly-believed, or commonly-restated."
So any business either starts small and grows over time (which is how the vast majority of businesses grow), or has some special idea, asset, skill, or something that would make a bank willing to take a risk on a huge loan. I know, again, that people here tend to turn blind eyes on unfortunate realities, but people do make giant businesses without having giant incomes. The ""unfortunate reality"" is that most startups fail. Which may sound bad, but also keep in mind that most startups are created by people that are OK with failing. They are people that are willing to fail 9 times with the thought that the 10th one will take off and make up for the losses of the first 9. So I would say - if you have some great idea or skill and a viable strategy and plan to take it to market, then GO FOR IT. You don't need a huge salary to start off. You need something that you can take to market and make money. Most people (myself included) either do not have that idea or skill to go out on their own, or don't have the courage to take that kind of risk. But don't go in assuming all you need is a loan and you'll be an instant millionaire. You might, but the odds are very long."