
Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other awesome crowdfunding sites are full of amazing ideas, but the cool thing about the 11 we highlight here is that almost all of them make life just a little bit easier. From a digital kitchen gadget that helps you cook nutritious meals to a USB port with unlimited hubs, these inventions really are genius. But because not everything has to have a life-changing purpose, we’re also highlighting a couple that just make life happier, like a cool toy that inspires confidence and a hand-embroidered sweatshirt you can design yourself. Check them all out below and get ready to be wowed.
1. Customizable Clothing: Across the pond is a kickass crowdfunding site called Kiss Kiss Bank Bank, which is where we discovered this designer who makes customizable embroidered sweatshirts, tees and totes. There are 15 colors to choose from, plus collections of animals, patterns, adorable objects or text. With the money raised, the designer is hoping to print lookbooks and get her website up and running. Rock on, independent designers! (Photo via @hellojonesie)
2. Step to Perfect Posture: If you’re like most people, you spend a lot of your day slouching over your desk at work, eyes glued to the computer. The BetterBack is a little pack you strap around your middle section and knees. Wearing it just 15 minutes a day strengthens your core and encourages better posture. Plus it comes in a cute little travel bag so you can take it to and from work with ease.
3. Scratch-Off World Map: Using that Facebook map to brag about all the places you’ve traveled is so passé. We’re loving the idea behind Scratchy Map, which is basically a map you can scratch off the places you’ve been, bringing out bright colors underneath. It makes awesome decor, regardless of how many (or few) places you’ve actually visited.
4. A Toy That Encourage Creativity: Not only is this toy adorable, but it also inspires confidence and creativity in kids. It comes in a cute little kit, and kids can put together the animal using the pom pom for either its furry body or a great mane. It’s totally grooming kids to be amazing DIYers when they grow up.
5. Your Digital Sous Chef: This little tech tool is the Siri of the kitchen. It tells you all sorts of cool facts about the meal you’re making based on the ingredients you’re working with. It can give a rundown of the nutritional value, give you tips on spices or other little extras that will make your meal even more delish, and it can even tell you what you can make with the ingredients you already have in your fridge. The future is now, people.
6. A Toy You Can Feel Good About: While walking around your kid’s favorite toy store, it can be disheartening to realize that the most popular toys aren’t very environmentally friendly. Enter the Tobo Truck. This eco-friendly toy is made from liquid wood and no plastic whatsoever. What’s really cool is that the tracks are the perfect size to go with toys your son or daughter already loves playing with, like Thomas and all his other train friends. Major bonus: It can connect to LEGOs too!
7. Next Level Printer: Is anyone else still amazed by 3D printers? This one, called the Stepcraft, not only prints things in 3D, it can print them out of almost any material, such as wood, aluminum or even brass. Some people have used it to design and print wooden toy train tracks. Others have used it to carve sculptures or engrave signs. It’s seriously a DIYer’s dream tool.
8. Robot Bodyguard: This little panda may look like a toy, but it’s secretly a security device. Sneaky, right? iCaptura is a camera and motion detector which will alert you via phone if something is not right (i.e., stranger in the house, a fire, flood or something else catastrophic). It also has a traditional alarm so you can wake up and get out of the house ASAP if you need to. Burglars be warned — panda is watching.
9. Beer Pong Cup Washer: Beer pong is often the life of the party, but there’s no denying it’s a dirty game. Like, literally. The Clean Cup helps by cleaning the ball when you drop it in there by using blasts of air and water to get rid of all that gross hair and dirt. Now you really have no excuse not to drink.
10. Virtual Reality Goggles: There’s been talk about virtual reality games for decades, but the Impression Pi looks like one of the most promising ventures so far. It has 3D gesture control, position tracking and can connect to your phone. It also has a camera and video camera so you can capture and share your experiences with your friends.
11. Unlimited USB Ports: If your computer is a tool you depend on for work, you know how annoying it can be when you can’t connect all your devices at the same time. The struggle is real. InfiniteUSB solves that whole problem by supplying endless ports — they just plug right into each other. Plus the cords are super cute and colorful. We’re a sucker for all things smart and stylish.
Which idea blows you away? Tell us in the comments.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures