
“This year, I’m going to start cooking more and eating healthier.” Sound like a familiar resolution? While it’s easy enough to say, it’s actually pretty hard to go from dining out almost everyday to being a master at preparing your own food.
1. Plated ($10-$15 per meal): Plated addresses a problem a lot of us have. Sometimes we need certain ingredients, but grocery stores only sell it in certain amounts, resulting in wasted money and spoiled food. After all that, we still have to prep all the food! This is where Plated comes in. You choose a meal online, they send you pre-measured amounts of each ingredient, and a step by step recipe guide with chef tips to help you create the meal. This is perfect for those who want to start off with cooking a few meals a week, without the waste.
2. Pop Up Pantry ($17 per person): Pop Up Pantry is similar to Plated, except they focus on helping you create a 3 course, gourmet meal. Login to create a taste profile, and they’ll give you meals to choose from accordingly. After you pick your meal, they send you the ingredients, step by step instructions, printed menus, and also wine pairing tips. Meals like wild boar ragu with truffled polenta or portobello wellington are perfect for when you’re trying to impress your date on Valentine’s Day ;).
3. Luke’s Local (varies): Want some groceries, and also some pre-made food? Then Luke’s Local is perfect for you. You can tell from the name that Luke’s Local focuses on sourcing fresh, local ingredients. What’s unique about Luke’s Local is that not only do they provide groceries with each Meal Box, like a CSA, but they also include some pre-made meals and snacks. They also have different meals for different diets — including omnivores, vegetarians, and gluten sensitive diets.
4. Blue Apron ($10 per person, per meal): Blue Apron is another subscription meal service, but instead buying one meal a la carte, you buy by the week. Each weekly subscription includes 3 perfectly proportioned meals delivered for free. Like the other delivery services mentioned above, the ingredients are provided, but cooking is up to you! Fortunately, you’ll never need any fancy cookware besides the basics.
5. Full Circle (starts at $21 a week): Looking for fresh, organic produce every week? Full Circle is a CSA that delivers locally sourced, organic foods weekly. You can skip weeks without any charge, and we like how they have multiple different sized boxes. Usually CSA boxes come in one size, but you can order a sprout size box (serves 1-2 people) or the full harvest box (serves 3-5) people.
6. Peapod (varies): Looking to buy groceries while you’re waiting during your commute? Peapod helps you do that! Peapod was the first company to pioneer virtual, interactive grocery stores on train platforms, so that you can ensure even your commute time isn’t wasted! What’s great about Peapod is that not only do they have these virtual grocery stores, you can also shop online or with using your phone with their app. Or, if you’re in the mood to actually go to the store, you can order online and pick it up in person. Peapod really does it all.
7. FreshDirect (varies): FreshDirect, one of the originals. Started back in 2002, FreshDirect is grocery delivery, plain and simple. What’s great about the company is that it has a huge assortment of groceries, and they focus on fresh and sustainable foods. We especially like how the website tells you how long your foodstuffs will last, and when the best season for the item is.
8. Amazon Fresh (varies): It’s Amazon for groceries. Need we say more?
9. PostMates (starting at $7): Need groceries in a jiffy? Postmates is a mobile app that has someone buy and deliver your groceries, all under an hour. If you want more than just groceries, your Postmate can also pick up food from restaurants in the area. What’s even better is that you can actually get to know your Postmate. A photo, experience level, and number of jobs is all listed for your Postmate.
10. Instacart (starting at $4): If you don’t mind waiting a few more hours (3) and would rather pay a little less for delivery than PostMates, then check out Instacart. Like PostMates, it’s a mobile app grocery delivery service. If you’re a loyal Trader Joe’s fan, then Instacart is the mobile app for you as they mainly shop with Trader Joe’s and Safeway.
With all these services, even we’re convinced to go fully digital with our grocery shopping. What service piques your interest the most? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.
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