vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
I'm assuming you are in the US here. From a tax perspective you don't need to take any action to start a business and deduct expenses.  If you have earned income coming from a source other than a W2 paying job, then you have a business.  On your taxes, this means you file a schedule C (which is where you will deduct business expenses) and schedule SE (which computes how much FICA tax you will owe on your business income).  When we talk about starting a business, we usually are talking about creating a corporation or LLC.  No particular tax advantage to that in your case, but there could be liability advantages, if you are concerned about that. If you file losses consistently year after year, the IRS might try and classify your business as a hobby.  That's what you should worry about.  I suppose incorporating might reduce the probability of that, but it might not.  Keep good records in case you need to argue with the IRS.  If you do have to argue with them, they will want to ensure that you only used the laptop and internet for your business.  That's a big if, but it's a potentially scary one. IRS Guidelines on hobby vs. business income Note: besides deducting expenses, another advantage of self-employment is opening a solo-401(k) or SEP or SIMPLE IRA.  These potentially allow you to set aside a lot more money than the typical IRA and 401(k) arrangement.  Thing is, you have to have a lot more earned income to really take advantage of them, but let's hope your app gets you there.
Having an interview next week with a few companies, one of which is a bank as a financial analyst. Now the main job description is on detailed financial analyst, audit firm experience, 3 yr exp and review of customer/segment. Was it investment banking? Interview wise what I need to prepare for? I have prepared my project experiences and examples relevant to what they are finding for in power point. What else should I be prepared for?
The major reason to start an LLC for side work is if you want the additional personal liability protection afforded by one.  If you're operating as a sole proprietor, you may be exposing yourself to liability: debts and judgments against your business can put your personal assets at risk! So, if you're intending to continue and grow your side work in the future, you ought to consider the LLC sooner than later. It's also an important legal decision and you should consider seeking a professional opinion. The Wall Street Journal has a brief guide titled How to Form an LLC.  Here are some notable excerpts: A limited liability company, or LLC,   is similar to a partnership but has   the legal protections of personal   assets that a corporation offers   without the burdensome formalities,   paperwork and fees.   [...]   Some states charge annual fees and   taxes that can diminish the economic   advantage of choosing to become an   LLC. Among LLC advantages:   pass-through taxation – meaning the   profits and losses “pass through” the   business to the individuals owning the   business who report this information   on their own personal tax returns. The   result can be paying less in taxes,   since profits are not taxed at both   the business level and the personal   level. Another plus: Owners aren’t   usually responsible for the company’s   debts and liabilities.   [...] Also check out onstartups.com's Startup 101: Should You Form An Inc. or An LLC? Here are some additional articles that discuss the advantages / disadvantages of forming an LLC:
"You seem to have all your financial bases covered, and others have given you good financial advice, so I will try to give you some non-financial ideas. The first and most important thing is that you are investing with a long time friend, so the dynamics are a lot different that if you had recently met a stranger with an ""interesting"" new idea. The first thing you need to ask yourself is if your friendship will survive if this thing doesn't go well? You've already said you can afford to lose the money so that's not a worry, but will there be any ""recriminations?"" The flip side is also true; if the venture succeeds, you should be able to go further with it because he's your friend. You know your friend better (back to grade school) than almost anyone else, so here are some things to ask yourself: What does your friend have that will give him a chance to succeed; tech savvy, a winning personality, a huge rolodex, general business savvy, something else? If your guardian angel had told you that one of your friends was planning to embark on an internet/advertising venture, is this the one you would have guessed? Conversely, knowing that your friend was planning to do a start up, is this the kind of venture you would have guessed? How does ""internet"" and ""advertising"" fit in with what you are doing? If this venture succeeds, could it be used to help your professional development and career, maybe as a supplier or customer? Can you see yourself leaving your current job and joining your friend's (now established) company as a vice president or acting as a member of its board of directors, the latter perhaps while pursuing your current career path?  Are your other mutual friends investing? Are some of them more tech savvy than you and better able to judge the company's prospects of success? To a certain extent, there is ""safety in numbers"" and even if there isn't, ""misery loves company."" On the upside, would you feel left out if everyone in your crowd caught ""the next Microsoft"" except you?"
"I will be attending an ""Information Session"" today with a BB firm with reps from back office/middle office divisions. I've never attended one of these before, but have done a fair amount of research on the firms and divisions that will be there. Can anyone give me any insight on how these events usually go? Should I try to introduce myself to a few people from the divisions I'm interested in, and then follow up with them right before/after I submit my application? Or just ask them some general questions or something. Sorry if this seems like a silly question, I've just never attended any event like this for finance before."
Well it depends what you are trying to do. You first job, almost by definition, will be entry level. Your coding is particularly valuable. The basics probability distributions should take you like a day or two tops with your background. So, no, I don't think some sort of job in risk management or a small role in a quantitative finance group (likely just coding) it out of the question. Only one way to find out. And you'll pick up the rest from there.  Edit: Just read you have a graduate degree in Physics/Math/Engineering. Of course you could get a job with your skill set. Likely a good one. One of the upsides to finance is they like to hire smart people and are okay with them developing skill sets as they go.
First of all, the picture says it all. This is written by some young girl that is clueless to the world. Yes, I looked her up, but besides creating some things of her own, what start ups has she worked for. To say they make you slave away seems pretty off base.  Second, I work for one of the top software companies in the world. They work the hell out of people, seldom hand out raises, etc. I am lucky that my position is not overworked like many of the others here.  Meanwhile, I worked for a start up, friends worked for start ups, and we acquired TONS of start ups where I work.   At the start up I worked for, I used to put in some crazy hours some days, but I could take them all back by leaving early other days. Everyone was relaxed, nobody was micromanaged, there were parties and work functions, beer Fridays, and it was just a great atmosphere. We also had awesome coffee. I can't drink the swill here.  Other start ups that I have known had foosball, pool tables, basket ball hoops, and other things making it fun to work there.  It has been my experience that start ups are generally where you want to be, and not giant corporations that are very well established. The people that were acquired all tend to hate it here when compared to their previous jobs.
&gt;  There's always another fresh-faced new grad with dollar signs in his eyes who doesn't know enough to ask about outstanding shares, dilution, or preferences.  They'll learn soon enough.  &gt; Very few startups are looking for penny-ante 'investor' employees who can only put &lt;$100k.  You'll probably find that the majority of tech startups are looking for under $100k to get going. Check out kickstarter.com sometime.  &gt; Actual employees are lucky if they can properly value their options, let alone control how much it ends up being worth in the end.  If you're asked to put in work without being fully compensated, you are no longer an employee. You're an investor. You need to change your way of thinking.
"I work at a mid market investment bank and while we don't usually use required rates of return (when we do it's typically in ranges based on previous experience in the market e.g. PE firms will look at IRR of 25%+ on mezz deals etc...) I can offer some insight into how you can think about it.   ""Required rate of return"" is a fairly arbitrary concept and literally is whatever you define it to be. Typically, the required rate of return is a function of risk i.e. the higher the riskiness of a project, the higher the return must be to compensate you for taking on that risk (this view is as per Markowitz's modern portfolio theory). This is easier said than done however as ""risk"" is tricky to define (The general, though somewhat outdated, rule is that risk = variability of returns).  To your questions:  1. How is rate of return determined: In my field of work (fairly niche) required rate of returns aren't usually an exact science and are typically based on i) financial leverage in the business ii) operating risk (seasonality, management team strength etc...) iii) type of security (e.g. for debt deals, what is the investment secured by)  2. Am I correct in thinking a firm will just choose a rate of return that they are already receiving? No, you are not correct, UNLESS the risk profile of the investment opportunity matches your current business. E.g. if you're a shoe manufacturer earning 15% on your capital and are looking to acquire another manufacturer in the same business with the same risk profile, then you can use your current rate of return as the requirement. If for e.g. you're a shoe manufacturer contemplating opening a new fully automated plant which will cost half your current net worth but allow you to triple your production, you will need to use a different (higher) required rate of return to compensate your firm for the additional risk it's taking on. E.g. if your shiny new plant only gets you a 15% return, you might as well deploy your capital in your current business at a much lower risk and earn the same amount of money.   Disclaimer: I have simplified. Significantly."
Does the friend fix your electrical wiring and the engine of your car? If you need a professional advice - ask a professional. In this case - an accountant (not necessarily a CPA, but at least an experienced bookkeeper). Financial Statements (official documents, that is) must be signed by a public accountant (CPA in the US) or the principle (you). I wouldn't take chances and would definitely have an accountant do that. You need to consider the asset useful life, and the depreciation. The fact that you use it for non-business purposes may be recorded in various ways. One that comes to mind is accounting as a supplement for depreciation: You depreciate the percentage that is used for business, and record as a distribution to owner the rest (which is accounting for the personal use). This way it would also match the tax reporting (in the US, at least). Bottom line: if you're preparing an official financial statement (that you're going to submit to anyone other than yourself) - get a professional advice.
&gt; This isn't terrible practice. If it was, it wouldn't have been adopted by other firms.  Correction: this isn't a terrible practice for the CEO and the members of the board.  &gt; ...there isn't really much secrecy about what happens in the CEO office.  Have you worked in a mid to large sized company close to the CEO?  Almost all business dealings is kept private.  &gt; They have to make important decisions based on reports from many areas and many managers.  As does every other manager and vice-president.  &gt; The ability to make the right ones isn't an easy task.  Question for you /u/Almost_Feeding: what percentage of a mid-to-large company's success do you think is due to the CEO and his/her decisions?
It was a requirement that they call my current employer. It wasn't reference necessarily, but for background check purposes. I'm assuming they're calling to verify I work there and what my salary is. Still gonna put me in an awkward spot.   Edit grammar
Are you working in some other area of finance or a different field altogether? I think the best way to do it (and it is how I did it) is to invest your own money. If you are in an interview and you say you invest your own money, you are pretty much guaranteed that you will be explaining one of your investment theses for the next half hour. This is effectively what you will be doing in the real job if you get it. Firms want to hire someone who can start working, they don't want to pay you that big money only to find that you can't do anything for the next year or two before they cut you. So you have to prove that you can do the job. Interns do it by working for cheap for a summer or two. Someone who graduated already can do it by claiming that they do it on the side, and then backing that up by being able to explaining positions intelligently (you will NOT get the job if it looks anything like /r/investing). There is also something hypocritical if you say that you should be paid boatloads of money because you are capable of managing money well (that is what you are claiming by applying to an investment job) and you don't manage your own money and you haven't formulated any investment theses. Students typically won't be able to do this because they don't have any money to invest, so they get their jobs through the internship route.
"Get some professional accounting help. You're going to have to pay for everything out of the fee you charge: taxes, retirement, health care, etc. You'll be required to pay quarterly. I don't think you should base your fee on what ""this"" company will pay as a full-time employee, but what you can expect in your area. They're saving a lot of money not going through an established employment firm and essentially, making you create your own. There are costs to setting up and maintaining a company. They have less risk hiring you because there are no unemployment consequences for letting you go.  Once you're hired, they'll probably put you on salary, so you can forget about making more money if you work over 40 hrs. IMHO - there have to be better jobs in your area than this one."
It's difficult to provide an exact answer as this will very much depend on the bank & the local regulatory scheme.  However as a business owner you should be able to provide incorporation docs, some proof of ownership of the company and last years' financial statements or tax returns, many banks would accept this as a proof of income for the purposes of granting credit. In general in most jurisdictions I can think of, a high downpayment will not remove the need to verify income as the bank needs to feel comfortable that you have the ability to pay the remaining 25% (e.g. how do they know you're not a serially unemployed lottery winner) and if the downpayment is quite large they may want some assurance that you got the money legally (e.g. how do they make sure you're not a drug dealer). So probably regardless of how large a downpayment most banks would probably want some additional proofs of income however what proofs are needed may be more flexible than just a salary stub. I suggest taking a look at what sort of documents you may have on hand that can serve to validate your revenue in some way and contacting a few banks directly to see what options they can provide and whether some custom-tailored arrangement can be made.
"Here's another perspective - I work in FP&amp;A at a large Chicago bank. I originally was interested in treasury, but here it is mostly cash management/reserve requirements/etc. - not really my cup of tea. A lot of our M&amp;A activity and fundraising roles are held by former I-Bankers. It might be hard to make it into that role.    I don't have any ""Accounting Functions"" - the accounting teams do that. While I am involved in planning and forecasting, I also provide a lot of strategic analysis on projects and ad-hoc/pro-forma reporting. Here, FP&amp;A is more the voice of the financial function in strategic decision making.   One other piece of advice - see if you can talk to some people on the team and see what their day-to-day is like. If you're interested in FP&amp;A in the true sense and not accounting/GLs, try looking for a larger firm."
You might be better off soliciting software engineers on AngelList.  Coder and programmer is a bit derogatory also -- you are seeking an Engineer.    With that said, I've been approached numerous times for things like this and the answer is always no.  You are basically looking for a cofounder so be prepared to give away 50%.  You need seed capital, and you don't really need an engineer for that so you should formalize the business plan and get funding.  If you can't convince someone for 50 or 100k of seed then the idea is probably flat and you won't find an engineer who wants to touch it.
what an awfully-written, rambling article. I had to scan it a few times just to see if there's any real information in there. Seems to try to give the message that start-ups are a scam and they'll just work you to death for very little money while some rich VC guy makes a ton of money.  **WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT**  Seems like it was written by someone with very little business sense. If a start-up looks like a good idea with some potential but can't afford to pay you much, the main priority for you is to get a contract stipulating back-end pay and continuing employment. Being as they have very little money to bargain with, you're in an excellent position to negotiate a good deal.  Going into a startup without a contract is the height of stupidity.
"Linkedlinked, You might want to seriously take another look at the links that Chris provided you.  Specifically the ones on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html From the IRS website: Businesses must weigh all these   factors when determining whether a   worker is an employee or independent   contractor. Some factors may indicate   that the worker is an employee, while   other factors indicate that the worker   is an independent contractor. There is   no “magic” or set number of factors   that “makes” the worker an employee or   an independent contractor, and no one   factor stands alone in making this   determination. Also, factors which are   relevant in one situation may not be   relevant in another. The keys are to look at the entire   relationship, consider the degree or   extent of the right to direct and   control, and finally, to document each   of the factors used in coming up with   the determination. Perhaps more importantly... pay attention to what happens if you're WRONG: Consequences of Treating an Employee as an Independent Contractor If   you classify an employee as an   independent contractor and you have no   reasonable basis for doing so, you may   be held liable for employment taxes   for that worker (the relief   provisions, discussed below, will not   apply). See Internal Revenue Code   section 3509 for more information. I would STRONGLY recommend that you and your partners give your accountant a call and discuss the matter.  They will be able to help you make the right decision. One of biggest mistakes businesses make in this are is to classify their employees as independent contractors.  The IRS (who happens to be hungry for money right now) comes in and says, ""Nooooooooo... those are employees."" ...and the COMPANY gets to pay the employment taxes.  I actually have person experience with this as I worked for a company this happened to.  Every contractor was re-classified as an employee except for two (myself and one other).  The key reason in that case was that none of the other contractors had any other clients. While I understand that you have other clients, I would still recommend talking to your accountant for an hour or so... just to be 100% sure. Sincerely, Andrew Smith TaxQueries.com"
California and New York are very aggressive when it comes to revenue and taxes. As such, mere having an employee in these States creates a nexus and tax/filing liability for the company. @Adam Wood mentioned sales tax - that is correct. Having an employee in the State of California will require collecting sales tax for CA, and if until now your employer didn't have to - that would be a good enough reason to refuse your request. In addition to sales taxes, there's also the issue of corporate filings (they will now have to file paperwork in CA and pay CA franchise taxes just because of you) and payroll taxes (which are pretty high in CA and NY). It will also subject the to CA/NY/WA labor laws, which are more liberal than in most of the other States. Washington doesn't have personal income tax, but does have corporate income tax and sales tax, so I'm guessing the reasons to exclude this State are the same.
"It's pretty easy. In the Interview Setup for Ufile, check the box for ""Self-employment business income"". Then during the process of filling everything out, you'll get a Self-Employment screen. It'll ask for the name of your business, but just put your own name since you don't have one. For the 6-digit classification code, click the ? button and look through the list for the industry that best matches the one for whom you wrote the technical report. Or you can go with 711500: Independent artists, writers and performers. It doesn't really matter that much so don't worry if it's a poor match. It will also ask you for your income and expenses.   I don't know exactly what costs you might have incurred to write your report, but you can likely claim a very tiny amount of ""home office"" expenses. Costs like rent (or mortgage interest + property tax), utilities, and home insurance can be claimed, but they have to be pro-rated for the time you were actually doing the work, and are based on the amount of space you used for the work.  For example, if you paid $1000 rent and $200 utilities for the month in which the work was done, and it took you 20 of the 31 days in that month to actually do the work, and you used a room that makes up about 10% of the square footage of your home, then you can claim: $1200 * 20/31 * 0.1 = $77.42 for your home office expenses. If you also used that room for non-business purposes during that time, then you reduce it even further. Say, if the room was also used for playing video games 50% of the time, then you'd only claim $38.71"
Hmm.. almost poetic.  As someone who has worked for startups and firms as an consultant, and is an investor I have a unique insight on both aspects, so I really enjoyed this rant. I don't know if I necessarily agree with what she says, but I think what it comes down to is the uniqueness for every given situation.  I've seen firms do a ~3 month project for 1.2million dollars. I've seen startups fail. I've seen startups not require investment money. If anything, no two situations have been alike actually.  From the investment aspect, roughly 1 in 10 companies that receive investments do not fail, so it is an extremely risky business. The author has no insight to this aspect which explains her rant.  From a coder standpoint, it is EXTREMELY frustrating being told a project has to be a certain way that will most likely guarantee its failure, or generally fuck it over, and it is being commanded from a high up 'investor' that never speaks to the software engineer directly.