How involved are you in spouse's work business?

[niccig]

If your spouse has a business, how involved are you?

DH and a friend are talking about starting a business. It would be full-time for the friend and a side-business for DH until it's up and running. DH is seeing our accountant to get general advice about setting things up and how it'll affect our family's finances. Our friend won't be at this meeting. I can't go to the meeting. Part of me feels I shouldn't go, this will be DH's work and I don't go to his current work meetings, but there's a part of me that wants to be there and to know what is going on - this business will affect our family's finances, hopefully for the better.

I'm also the worrier, risk-adverse, always want a back-up plan and as I went to law school (undergraduate as in another country) I want everything to be set up properly. I'm fully supportive of DH doing this, and I've told him it has to be legally set-up to protect our family (we're the only one with assets), but beyond that I don't think I have much of a say - the partners would be DH and his friend. Not me and DH and his friend. I could see myself helping with admin. related tasks with the business, but I would never do the actual work as I don't have the skill set needed.

[dhano923]

DH has a small computer consulting gig on the side. I'm not involved in any aspect of it at all. He does everything. I don't really ask him about it, and he doesn't offer too much info either (it's not a very exciting gig, just basic IT assistance/maintenance for a small company). He invoices them on his own, gets the checks, deposits them in his business account and then transfers over the money as needed. There's really no reason for me to be involved as its his thing, not mine. Its no different than me being involved in his 9-5 job.

[hillview]

well in what you describe I'd want to be briefed on the structure of things to make sure our personal finances were separate. I'd also want periodic updates -- maybe every 3 months for a while to make sure it was working as planned.

[egoldber]

I am not involved at all in his day to day business activities.

When he was setting things up, we talked about how to make things work, how to set things up, business bank accounts, how he would "pay" himself, etc.

We do talk about new clients, how much work it will mean and whether or not to accept a new client. That does impact me/our family and is not necessarily just a business decision. I think you and your DH should talk about this. When a new business is starting, it can mean a shift in how things work around the house, who does what, evening/weekend work, etc. This will be complicated in your case by the fact that he has a partner and cannot just make those decisions on his own.

[pb&j]

I have been involved in setup/logistics from the beginning - esp financial and legal stuff. I like it, and DH doesn't as much, so he is happy to have me making some of the decisions behind the scenes. I also attend the annual tax time meeting with the accountant. Again, DH is pretty happy to have me there, as I like that kind of stuff and he doesn't. As he is the sole proprietor, tax and financials affect our family deeply, so it's important to both of us that I'm in the loop on all of that. Also, when he was starting up, it was important to me that his atty and accountant were people I approved of since their advice and actions affect me personally.

But as I WOTH full time, I don't really have the time to have my fingers in much of the day to day, other than being an admin on his facebook page. I do help out with small things from time to time, and he willingly solicits my advice on certain matters.

I think it is important for some of the startup/ground rules stuff to be set up in a way you're comfortable with. That doesn't mean you are directing the business, but it does mean that DH has money going to retirement, business money separate from personal, LLC set up, etc. If you're ok with DH doing that on his own and reporting back, that's fine. But you need to be in the loop.