The author of Does This Make My Assets Look Fat shares her tips on how to manage your finances and invest like a pro!

Financial expert Susan Hirshman, author of the brand new book “Does This Make My Assets Look Fat” answers our readers’ burning money questions and breaks down the concept of investing and budgeting and puts it into terms any woman can understand.

As Susan sees it, the rules of successful dieting are the same rules that apply to successful money management. In her new book, Susan offers women a 3-phase personalized plan that follows common dieting programs to help them understand their finances.

Susan’s program completely removes the intimidation factor that often accompanies the words ‘personal finance’ and ‘investing’ and provides women with all the information they need to take control of their financial situations once and for all.

Question from Joey at Real Mom Media: If you have a small business-at what point should you get an LLC or become a ‘company’? (I’ve been doing a LOT more blog advertising, sponsorships, ambassador programs-and not sure how to claim them…)

Answer: To LLC/S-corp or not to LLC/S-corp that is the question? Thankfully, the answer to this question, does not take as much introspection and contemplation as Shakespeare’s to be or not to be. If you can answer yes to these questions (especially 1 thru 3), you should talk to a CPA and create the entity that is right for you:

Is the business more than a hobby? In other words, is it a viable business?
Is the business starting to accumulate assets and debt?
Do you want to limit your liability ( in case of law suits etc) to your corporate assets vs your corporate and personal assets?
Do you anticipate having employees?
Are you concerned about IRS audit risk?

Keep in mind that creating an entity is an additional cost. You have filing fees, legal and accounting fee’s etc. The benefits generally outweigh the costs. The bottom line is, in most cases, it makes sense to become a company sooner than later.

Susan L. Hirshman is a former managing director at JP Morgan. She holds an M.B.A. from Baruch College and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Financial Analyst. She currently lives in Manhattan.

If you have a money question for Susan, email us at beth@rolemommy.com.

*This post is sponsored by the Role Mommy Writer’s Network.